Padaca urged to reject ‘Bt corn’

Greenpeace, an environmental activist group, urged Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca yesterday to reject the test-planting of the controversial Bt corn, a genetically modified organism (GMO), in her province.

Greenpeace said it is the responsibility of the Padaca administration to make a stand against GMOs and act in the interest of local farmers.

Padaca, the group said, "must abandon Bt corn and declare a ban on GMOs in the province," like what other provinces such as Bohol and Mindoro did.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace activists, along with farmers and local officials, uprooted a plantation of Bt corn in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro yesterday.

In a statement, Greenpeace said 15 farmers dressed in suits for handling hazardous materials, along with Naujan officials, took part in uprooting the Bt corn from a farm which its owner reportedly volunteered for "decontamination."

The uprooted corn was packed in plastic bags and sealed in drums, it said.

Fr. John Couvreur, of the Ecology Desk of the Social Action Center of the Diocese of Isabela, echoed the Greenpeace call for Isabela to be GMO-free.

"GMOs cause environmental degradation as well as the economic exploitation of farmers through monopolies," he said. "And (GMOs) have never been proven safe for human consumption."

The government, through the Department of Agriculture, has been presenting Bt corn as a viable alternative for farmers.

American firm Monsanto Corp. has been marketing Bt corn as an answer to the Asiatic corn borer.

But Greenpeace claimed that Bt corn seeds are expensive, require higher fertilizer inputs, and has Bt toxin, which kills beneficial insects and contaminates the soil.