Panganiban to keynote int’l workshop on biotechnology

Agriculture Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban will be the keynote speaker at a Southeast Asian workshop on biotechnology to be held at the Interconentinental Manila Hotel in Makati City on Sept.4-7.

Billed "Biotech Issues and Communication Workshop: Enhancing Communiction Skills of Southeast Asian Decision Makers on Biotechnology," the four-day meeting is sponsored by the International Service for the Acqauisition of Agri-biotech Appications (ISAAA) with support from the United States Grains Council.

Dr. Randy Hautes, ISAA global coordinator and director of the ISAAA Southeast Asian Center, will also deliver a message at the workshop’s opening program.

Dr. Mariechel Navarro, manager of the ISAA SEAsiaCenter Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology, said participants from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam will share experiences and be imparted techniques to enable them to be effective communicators on biotechnology.

"The ability to communicate effectively to various stakeholders about issues surrounding biotechnology is an important skill on today’s current debate on the technology," said Dr. Navarro, a former professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños-College of Development Communication (UPLB-CDC).

She added: "It is crucial that authoritative information is made available in an appropriate form to facilitate and support decision making process with the various publics. Such a scenario provides an enabling environment to support regulatory approval and eventual commercialization of biotech seeds and food."

The resource persons and their topics are the following:

• Dr. Paul Tang of the Singapore National Institute of Education – "Intruduction to biotechnology and related issues."

• Dr.Nina Barzaga of UP Manila – "Overview of food safety issues".

• Dr. Rhodoa Aldemita of the Department of Agriculture-Philipppine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice) – "Overview of Environmental Issues."

• Jennifer Garrett of Monsanto, Mark Jagels of the Nebraska Corn Board, and Gretchen Flanley of the US Grains Council – "Biotech communication: The North American experience."