Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:35 pm

At least in the Philippines, and if it's agricultural biotechnology, according to Dr. Saturnina Halos, chairperson of the Biotech Advisory Team of the Philippine Department of Agriculture.

Quoting former Commission on Human Rights chairperson Purificacion Quisumbing, Halos noted that it is "against the basic human right to be deprived of a good technology such as modern biotechnology."

Speaking at a UP Los Baños Alumni Association-Negros Occidental Chapter seminar, she added that the ban on GMOs in Negros Occidental actually violates the right of Negrenses to use the technology.

"The way I see it, at this stage you should (look at the whole picture). You can allow some farmers (to go organic) but for everyone, we may lose our competitiveness," the DA expert said.

Halos said the DA does not support the GMO ban in Negros Occidental because the national policy emphasizes product safety. "Our biosafety policy for GM crops is adequate and is seen as a model for developing countries," she said.

Her remarks sparked an interesting exchange.

In her presentation, Halos said that prohibiting GMO and GM products in the province also means a ban on beer, detergents, cotton clothes, some fruit juices, cheese, gelatin, among others, as these contain or were made with GM enzyme.

Halos' take on the GMO ban in Negros Occidental drew a reaction from Third District Board Member Patrick Lacson who said he found her sarcastic.

The expert apologized to Lacson, saying she didn't mean to be so.

Lacson said that although he was not yet a member of the Provincial Board when the GMO ban ordinance was passed, he knew that it was unanimously approved by the Board in the province's bid to be the "Organic Bowl of Asia."

Halos said that economic changes have already taken place and that producers of organic products are losing their market.

"Maybe when they adopted that ordinance, organic products were well-priced. Now the yuppies who are the consumers of organic products are gone. They lost their jobs, so what is your market?" she said.