Several environmental groups have raised the alarm against golden rice, a genetically modified variety, that threatened “to destroy the organic purity of organic farms,” a group called Interface Development Intervention (IDIS) said on Thursday.
IDIS executive director Ann Fuertes said they have asked the Department of Agriculture to stop propagation of golden rice to prevent contamination of the island’s native rice varieties. “If the golden rice is introduced into the market, there is a significant risk of its genetically modified gene crossing over to the indigenous varieties, destroying the purity of our organic rice farms,” said Dagohoy Magaway of the Go Organic Davao City.
Mindanao has more than 50 varieties of native rice, which are planted with the use of indigenous organic farming techniques. These varieties are marketed as heirloom rice and they command high prices in organic market.
Reynaldo Ebora, director of the University of the Philippines National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, said opposition to the golden rice was unreasonable because the scientists who developed the crop “are ready to answer their questions.”
Share this article
“What the groups are doing are spreading different issues all at once, which leaves those who are studying these varieties of crops in a difficult position,” Ebora said.
Read the full, original article: Alarm up vs modified ‘golden rice’
