December 15, 2015
Thai GMO bill assailed, defended
Anti-GMO protesters rallied in Thailand, demanding the amendment of the Cabinet-approved Biological Safety Bill before it is forwarded to the legislature, as it would "undermine the goal of sustainable and secure economic development".
The rallies by members of some 100 organisations opposed to genetically modified organisms took place in Bangkok and 47 provinces on Dec. 9, according to a Bangkok Post report.
"We demand that the PM (Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha) refrain from forwarding the Biological Safety Bill to the National Legislative Assembly until it is improved," said Witoon Liencham-roon, director of Bio-diversity Sustainable Agriculture Food Sovereignty Action Thailand (BioThai).
Witoon claimed that the bill ran counter to Thailand''s agriculture-development strategy and goal of sustainable and secure economic development.
"The bill fails to rein in GMOimpacts on the country''s food security," he said.
Direk Kongngern, head of the Northern Farmers Federation, was concerned that GM plants would contaminate farms planted to non-GM crops.
Fears of contamination allayed
Meanwhile, Jessada Denduangboripa, a well-known scientist from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, allayed farmers'' fears related to contamination, saying many GM plants could only spread pollen in a limited area.
For example, he said, corn could spread pollen to a range of up to 100 metres but that it could only successfully breed in a range of just five metres.
Jessada said the controversial bill would open "a large opportunity for our country to develop biotechnology of our own."
"Before any GM plants are put on the safe list, they have to pass prudent tests both in laboratories and in greenhouses until they prove |that they are not harmful. This part of the bill was written according to the international standards of precautionary approach", he explained.-Rick Alberto