Agricultural scientists have been genetically engineering plants for decades, to increase yield, make crops resistant to certain pests or boost certain desirable characteristics. In the 1960s, the International Rice Research Institute or IRRI produced IR8, dubbed “miracle rice” because its high yield was credited for fighting famine in many countries.
People have been eating genetically engineered food products for a long time, including sweet corn and popular snacks such as potato chips. So the scientific community is appalled by the Court of Appeals sticking its nose into matters beyond the expertise of lawyers. On April 17, the CA stopped the commercial propagation, field testing and other activities related to Golden Rice, Bt eggplant and genetically modified organisms or GMO in general. The CA said its writ of kalikasan is meant to protect the constitutional right to a healthy environment.
Public health is in fact the reason why Golden Rice was developed. Vitamin A deficiency is a leading cause of blindness among children particularly in developing countries. The deficiency also lowers immunity and is among the causes of mortality among children who are malnourished or undernourished. In the 1990s, an estimated 23 to 34 percent of deaths among children age five or younger were VAD-related.
Multiple responses in line with United Nations Millennium Development Goals, including Vitamin A supplementation, have reduced the figure to two percent. Like most other aspects of development, however, the responses including micronutrient supplementation programs were disrupted by the COVID pandemic.
Addressing VAD was the reason the Philippine Rice Research Institute, in partnership with IRRI, produced a variety of rice with higher levels of beta-carotene, the nutrient converted by the body into Vitamin A. Called Golden Rice, the variety that was first developed about two decades ago was approved for food, feed and processing in 2019 in the Philippines, for planting in 2021 and for mass production in 2022.
Also stopped was the commercial cultivation of Bt eggplant, which was genetically modified to contain a natural protein that makes it resistant to the eggplant fruit and shoot borer. EFSB has been blamed for annual losses of up to 73 percent in Philippine eggplant production. Before scientists in the Institute of Plant Breeding at the University of the Philippines-Los Baños developed Bt eggplant, farmers sprayed their crops with chemical insecticide against EFSB. How is this better for the environment and human health? Those behind Golden Rice and Bt eggplant are hoping that the judiciary would listen to the scientists.