Lawmakers have filed a measure that requires the mandatory labeling of food and food products containing genetically modified organisms in the country in order to safeguard the rights and welfare of Filipino consumers, a press release from Congress said.

The measure, to be known as the "Genetically-Modified Food Labeling Act," covers all food and food products domestically sold, whether manufactured locally or imported, and which contain genetically-modified organisms.

These include those produced by genetic engineering technologies, shall indicate in their respective labels of packaging that the product contains genetically-modified organisms or was produced with genetically-engineered material with the GMO code, the press release said.

The notice must be clearly legible and conspicuous and shall indicate the source of the foreign gene spliced and/or the genetic engineering process used on the food or food product concerned, it added.

Rep. Teddy Casiño (Party-list, Bayan Muna), one of the authors of House Bill 5247, said the measure seeks to uphold the Filipino consumers' rights to be informed of the contents of what they are buying and eating.

"This right to an informed choice will only be possible if proper labeling is present in food products, particularly those containing or have undergone genetic modification," Casiño said.

There have been many cases discovered which should tell us that genetically modified products could seriously harm human beings and the environment, he said.

Rep. Imelda Quibranza Dimaporo (1st District, Lanao del Norte), another author of the bill, said as long as there is no general consensus yet as to the harmlessness and safety of GMO, it is best to take a precautionary principle in dealing with these.

Under the bill, all food and food products which do not comply with the provisions of the act shall be considered as misbranded.

The proposed measure pointed out that that presence of trace amounts of genetically-modified organisms in non-GMO food and food products is technically unavoidable.

Thus, fixing a threshold of the amount of genetically modified material content in the food and food-products purporting to be produced or sourced from non-GM crops or livestock is necessary, it said.*

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