What’s 5.41 years, or 65 months, or 1,950 days? That’s how long it takes to get all the requirements before genetically modified (GM) products can be released in the market.
Perhaps not many know it, but that’s what is happening in the Philippines.
And it means lost opportunities for the country in terms of exports, lost opportunities for farmers and lost opportunities as well for scientists and researchers.
Advocates of modern biotechnology (biotech), or genetically modified organism (GMO), want to hasten the process to help the government “ensure the health and well-being of Filipinos, promote competitiveness, help reduce hunger and poverty and help mitigate the effects of climate change.”
This was according to the Explanatory Note of a draft legislation, titled “An Act to Support Modern Biotechnology for Sustainable Rural Development in the Republic of the Philippines and Appropriating Funds Thereof.”
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Hopefully, help is on the way for the Philippines’s initiatives to raise farmers’ economic status and put more food on as many Filipinos’ table as possible, and compete in the global market for GM products, as well.
But to achieve the goal there is a long process ahead, which will depend on the two chambers of Congress—the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Read full, original post: Advocates seek a law on modern biotech
