Green Alert Negros yesterday urged the provincial government not to consider lifting the ban on genetically-modified organisms because of “pressures” coming from poultry and hog raisers and the favorable view of international experts on commercial GMO.

Board Members Enrique Lacson, Edgardo Acuña and Nehemias de la Cruz attended a recent GMO summit in Melbourne, Australia which stressed co-existence of organic and GM products.

Lacson, who supports the proposed changes in the provincial GMO ban, said that speakers at the summit argued that the question on co-existence between GM products and organic produce is just a matter of “market strategy.”

GAN, in its press release, argued that the international views that organic and GM products can co-exist “is an outright lame analysis”. It claimed that such view is “profit and market driven” which is being used by the proponents of GM for acceptance in the world market, especially the third world countries which can easily submit to the offers of business profit and income.

“We will stand in our position not to lift the ban on GMOs as part of the Organic Island Ordinance no matter what. Our call is to protect the rights of the local farmers and our native varieties including consumers' rights to safe food. The Provincial Board should act decisively to protect the essence of the organic island which means not to lift the ban of GMOs or else the 2010 election will decide for them,” Jun-jun Mojica, GAN coordinator, said in the press release.

The indefinite hunger strike of GAN last September which ended after 9 days because of the appeal of non-government organizations and Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra left a hanging question whether or not the Provincial Board will listen to the call of the civil society organization and the church not to lift the ban on GMOs.

Among those who supported the hunger strike of GAN against the lifting of the GMO ban includes SEARICE, PAKISAMA and Greenpeace from Manila, NGOs from Mindanao like EcoWEB Inc., the Negros Organic Agricultural Movement, and Navarra, the press release added.*

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