{"id":5456,"date":"2023-04-21T13:42:53","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T05:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panap.net\/?p=5456"},"modified":"2023-04-21T13:42:53","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T05:42:53","slug":"hope-as-environmental-protection-case-vs-golden-rice-and-bt-eggplant-in-philippines-moves-forward-panap","status":"publish","type":"panap_updates","link":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/updates\/hope-as-environmental-protection-case-vs-golden-rice-and-bt-eggplant-in-philippines-moves-forward-panap\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope as environmental protection case vs. Golden Rice and Bt eggplant in Philippines moves forward \u2013PANAP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regional advocacy group PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP) lauds the Philippine Supreme Court for issuing a \u2018Writ of Kalikasan\u2019 in favor of petitioners seeking to stop the commercial propagation of genetically modified crops Golden Rice and Bt eggplant in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis development brings hope to farmers, scientists, consumers and civil society groups not just in the Philippines, but in other countries where GM crops are being opposed because of its threats to biodiversity, people\u2019s health, and farmers\u2019 livelihoods. All eyes are on the Philippines because Golden Rice is the first genetically modified staple food to be commercialised, and will pave the way for the entry of even more hazardous GM crops into markets and into our diets,\u201d said Arnold Padilla, coordinator of PANAP\u2019s Food Sovereignty Programme. PANAP is a co-convenor of the Stop Golden Rice Network (SGRN) Asia, a network of more than 30 organisations across the Asia Pacific region.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Led by MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development), various groups filed a petition for a \u2018Writ of Kalikasan,\u2019 with prayer for the issuance of Temporary Environmental Protection Order (TEPO) last October 17, 2022. The TEPO aims to direct the proponents of Golden Rice and Bt Eggplant to refrain from commercially propagating Golden Rice and issuing biosafety permits for commercial propagation of Bt Eggplant, cease and desist from commercially propagating Golden Rice and Bt Eggplant, declare all biosafety permits for Golden Rice and Bt Eggplant null and void, perform independent risks and impact assessments, and obtain the prior and informed consent of farmers and indigenous peoples.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last April 18, 2023, the Supreme Court <\/span>issued the \u2018Writ of Kalikasan\u2019<\/span><\/a> and directed the proponents of Golden Rice and Bt eggplant\u2013the Philippine Department of Agriculture and its Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Health, the Philippine Rice Research Institute, and University of the Philippines \u2013 Los Ba\u00f1os\u2013to respond to the petition.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u2018Writ of Kalikasan\u2019 is a legal remedy protecting the Filipino people\u2019s rights to a healthy environment, under which several forms of relief \u201cwhich relate to the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology or to the protection, preservation, rehabilitation or restoration of the environment\u201d may be granted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGolden Rice threatens the thousands of rice varieties in Asia with extinction. In the Philippines, this includes nutritious traditional heirloom and organic farmer-bred rice varieties. With its questionable biosafety and Vitamin A content, and many locally abundant and natural sources of Vitamin A, it is easy to see how Golden Rice is primarily not about addressing malnutrition, but expanding corporate control over food and agriculture,\u201d Padilla added.<\/span><\/p>\n

While currently being distributed under \u201chumanitarian use,\u201d Golden Rice is patented under\u00a0 Syngenta, one of the world\u2019s largest pesticide and seed transnational corporations.<\/span><\/p>\n

PANAP further expressed alarm at <\/span>reports by MASIPAG<\/span><\/a> that children in the provinces of Isabela (Luzon) and Samar (Visayas) have already been fed Golden Rice porridge. There are currently 17 pioneer production sites of Golden Rice in different provinces across the Philippines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFilipino children are not guinea pigs. We hope that the Supreme Court will grant the Temporary Protection Order as soon as possible to avert health risks to the population and prevent local rice contamination,\u201d Padilla concluded. ###<\/span><\/p>\n

Reference: Arnold Padilla, Food Sovereignty Programme Coordinator, nolandnolife@panap.net<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regional advocacy group PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP) lauds the Philippine Supreme Court for issuing a \u2018Writ of Kalikasan\u2019 in favor of petitioners seeking to stop the commercial propagation of genetically modified crops Golden Rice and Bt eggplant in the country. \u201cThis development brings hope to farmers, scientists, consumers and civil society groups not just in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5458,"template":"","update_categories":[107],"class_list":["post-5456","panap_updates","type-panap_updates","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","update_categories-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panap_updates\/5456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panap_updates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/panap_updates"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panap_updates\/5456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"update_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/panap.net\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/update_categories?post=5456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}