After Bt corn, comes now Bt rice

Rice, the food crop for more than half the world’s population, is the current target of genetic modification.

As a consequence, a war is building up between corporate establishments and the peoples of the world for the control of the rice industry. The food security of billions is at stake in their right to grow the varieties of rice they have created and continue to create in the manner they prefer. Such a crop of immense global importance is a sure target for control by multinational corporations since the rice genome was announced two years ago. Since then, all major biotech giants are investing in rice research.

Only one genetically modified (GM) rice traitówith tolerance to the herbicide glufosinate–is currently available in the market. The rice varieties under development are those with traits that include resistance to insects and microbial pests and tolerance to high salt levels.

It is likely that the next GM rice to be approved for commercial release will contain an insect toxin gene–bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) – that has been tried in Bt corn. Rest assured that it will be followed by a range of modifications including insect resistance based on lectins and protease inhibitors.

Research has established that Bt toxin was introduced into the soil by exudates of transgenic rice. The toxin released into the soil affected the enzymes of soil microbes increasing soil phosphatase and decreasing soil urease. The benefit of insect protection from Bt rice is offset by the harmful effects of high levels of toxin protein in the rice grains. Resistance to stem borer was produced using a synthetic trypsin inhibitor that interfered with insect food digestion.The benefit of insect protection in Bt rice is, however, offset by the potential high levels of toxin protein in the rice grain. As rice is such an important staple, the safety of rice must be completely established.

In spite of the promise of Bt rice its environmental and health impacts is something to worry about. The genetic modifications being promoted for rice pose a threat to the environment if they contaminate conventional rice fields or spread tansgenes to weedy relatives such as red rice. For the most part, GM rice is formed from synthetic genes that requires fuller safety testing than has been done in the past. In North America, regulators have allowed substitution of genes and proteins produced in bacterial surrogates for the actual genes and protein in crop plants for the toxicity tests of human and environmental safety. The world’ís leading food crop should be treated with more care than what has been done with corn, soyabean and canola.

The Ecological Society of the Philippines is calling on the government to follow the precautionary principle as the basis for dealing with GMOs (genetically modified organisms) as it urges the government to follow the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol of which the country is a signatory. Otherwise, the Philippine agriculture will be controlled by GMO companies.from the seeds to the produce to the detriment of Filipino farmers.

(Antonio M. Claparols is president of Ecological Society of the Philippines and IUCN regional councilor)