Bishop issues pastoral letter backing anti-GMO stance
BACOLOD CITY -- Bishop Vicente Navarra of the Diocese of Bacolod called on the Negros Occidental and Bacolod City governments to continue implementing Provincial Ordinance No. 007 and City Ordinance No. 485, respectively, banning the entry of GMO products.
Navarra opposed the entry of the said products into Negros Island.
“The provincial and city government officials should fully implement the law without fear or favor, knowing that they have done the right thing for the farmers, their constituents and the island of Negros,” the bishop said in his pastoral letter.
He also said that the government should preserve the reputation of Negros as the organic food bowl of the Philippines.
“Do not succumb to the pressures exerted by business interest groups,” Navarra added.
He also called on Negrenses not to be carried away by the demands and vested interest of profit hungry groups but discern and come up with the best method of preserving and maintaining life as originally intended by God.
The hog raisers and poultry associations in Negros Occidental should explore other alternatives to meet their requirements without jeopardizing the environment and the health of the people.
High inputs of fertilizers, pesticides and heavy mechanization required by GE/GM crops have devastating environmental effects, the bishop pointed out.
Quoting a Greenpeace Southeast Asia report the bishop said GE crops are wind pollinated crops, 98 percent of the pollen may be found within 25 to 50 meters radius, he said. Smaller amounts travel to as far as .8 kilometers under suitable conditions, which means, GE crops will likely contaminate non-GMO crops and destroy the natural traits of the native crops which will ultimately lead to the destruction of biodiversity.
Some claims that GMO is safe for human consumption but Navarra said there were experiments done on rats fed with GM tomatoes that showed the rats developing stomach lesions or dying after two weeks on this diet.
“If it is harmful to animals like rats, why then risk human lives for something that has not been proven to be safe?” he asked.
The bishop also debunked the claim that GMO is the answer to world hunger and poverty. GMO has been in existence for more than two decades, and statistics show that the world hunger has not abated but rather has escalated, he said.
“GMO was designed to monopolize seed production aimed for profit of the few multinational corporations and to the detriment of the small farmers worldwide, the bishop,” the bishop added.
Yesterday at the Sangguniang Panglungsod session hall, the august body tackled the proposal of the business sector especially in the livestock industry to have a moratorium on the implementation of the ordinance.
Albert Lim Jr., president of Negros Hog Raisers Association said they are asking for a two to three years moratorium until the city or the province is prepared for the industry to continue.
“We are not against organic but we are only looking for the great impact of the ordinance if fully implemented since everything has not been laid down properly,” Lim added.
Regional Director Larry Nacionales of the Department of Agriculture stressed the acceptance of the country on BT line variety corn, which has no clear evidence that it is GMO until this time.
“The production of corn in the province is only 24% which almost 60% of it was imported from other parts of the country like Mindanao,” he added.
So there should be a thorough study since swine or livestock is number 3 industry in Western Visayas.
“If they are banning BT line variety corn, the city and province should come up with a program for the production of another variety which they believe not GMO to support the industry or else there will be aproblem later,” Nacionales added.