Thai biotech battle targets
papaya By Sonny Inbaraj
BANGKOK - Thailand's most popular fruit, the
papaya, is the subject of a heated debate here on
genetically modified (GM) crops - an issue that will be
taken up at a global environment conference in Bangkok
this week.
The issue has pit environmentalists
against biotechnology advocates, with Greenpeace hauled
off to court and activists threatening to call protests
if the government goes down the GM path. The flare-up
comes as the World Conservation Union, also known as the
IUCN, gets ready to hold its Third World Conservation
Congress in the Thai capital on Wednesday. The IUCN
global congress, to be held from November 17-25, brings
together 81 states, 114 government agencies, 800-plus
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and some 10,000
scientists and experts from 181 countries.
At
the IUCN's second congress in the Jordanian capital of
Amman in 2000, the world body had two key concerns over
GM crops. First, it addressed the potential for
significant reduction or loss of biodiversity when
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are released into
the environment. Second, it noted that the potential of
GM crops for "achieving global food security" had "not
been adequately demonstrated so far".
In late
July, Greenpeace reported that a government research
station in the northeast province of Khon Kaen planting
GM papaya was the source of contamination for farms in
the area. On July 27, environmental activists, dressed
in protective suits, trespassed into the government
field research station and began removing GM papaya
fruit from trees and securing them in hazardous material
containers inside the field-trial site.
The
department of agriculture moved to take action against
Greenpeace for property damage. On November 8, key
members of the group appeared at the Khon Kaen
Provincial Court to answer charges. "The government is
fighting tooth and nail to cover up the fact that it is
the cause of the environmental disaster currently
plaguing Thai papaya farms," Greenpeace Southeast Asia
executive director Jiragorn Gajaseni told reporters
after the case came up in court.
The
environmental group said it had valid concerns when it
twice tested batches of papaya seeds, from native
species Khak Dam Tha Phra, sold by the research
station to farmers. "Independent laboratory tests have
shown that packages of papaya seeds being sold by the
department of agriculture's own research station contain
genetically modified seeds," said Varoonvarn
Svangsopakul, Greenpeace's GMO campaigner.
"The
experimental field, surrounded only by barbed wire and
banana trees, was identified by Greenpeace as the source
of the genetically modified seeds," she added. "The
government must act now to impose a total ban on GM crop
field trials - including those in government restricted
areas and experimental stations."
Added Witoon
Lianchamroon, director of BioThai, an environmental
group working on the preservation of biodiversity in
Thailand: "It has become very clear to the Thai people
that we cannot allow a small group of scientists, or
even the government, to take decisions on their own
about running field trials of GM crops."
"The
best way to control contamination is to stop all GM
field trials," he stressed. "When GMOs leak into the
environment - and it doesn't matter if they are approved
or unapproved - no one can control pollination and no
one can prevent contamination. This causes problems not
only in terms of food safety, but with our whole food
system."
Last month, the World Health
Organization suggested that Thailand conduct further
research on GMOs so that an early action plan can be
implemented to cope with possible health risks posed by
transgenic food. But the main frustration
environmentalists face is dealing with Thai Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who seems to be vacillating
in his decision on the commercial growth of GM crops.
On August 21, the premier angered
environmentalists, farmers' groups and consumer networks
by reversing a 2001 ban on the planting of GM crops. Ten
days later, he undid his August 21 decision and opted
for a national committee of academics to look into the
matter. But to date, there has been no movement on this.
"If Thaksin doesn't stop GM crops, we will stop him from
having another term as prime minister," warned BioThai's
Witoon.
GM papaya is genetically engineered to
be resistant to the ringspot virus. It is made by
cutting a gene from the ringspot virus and forcing it
into papaya cell. This is done by randomly shooting the
gene millions of times with a gene gun with the hope
that it gets into the plant cell. Virus and bacteria
resistant to antibiotics are also added, which is why
sceptics are concerned about human health risks from the
build-up of such resistance.
"Even if there has
been some testing, the long-term effects to humans are
unknown. We are still in the dark about the full
ramifications of modified genes escaping and mixing with
unmodified ones," said Janet Cotter, a Britain-based
scientist working for Greenpeace, in an interview. But
Prung Pomkoed, who owns a celebrated papaya orchard in
Nakhon Chaisi, a district of the central plains province
of Nakhon Pathom, said some farmers might prefer the GM
strains because they are easier to maintain.
"The reason that people like to grow GM papayas
is that they're 90-100% immune to the papaya ringspot
virus. Usually there's no way to prevent this virus from
attacking trees," he told the Bangkok Post, an
English-language daily. "When it appears, it takes the
form of white circles [on the leaves] and eventually
causes the plants to rot and die. It spreads quickly,
carried by a tiny fruit fly.
"The only way to
counter it is to use insecticide to exterminate the
fruit flies, which amounts, at best, to damage control,"
said Prung. In a bid to bring back farm productivity
lost due to disease, scientists in Malaysia, Indonesia,
the Philippines and Vietnam are also developing
transgenic papaya resistant to ringspot virus. But
unlike Thailand, which has already started field trails,
these other Southeast Asian countries are only at the
greenhouse testing stage of GM papaya strains.
