GMO labelling urged for the Philippines

Environmental group Greenpeace urged the Philippines on Wednesday to impose mandatory labelling on food products containing genetically modified organisms, saying recent tests showed massive levels of GMOs in several baby food products sold locally. "The confirmed presence of GMOs in our food supply without the public's knowledge and consent should be basis enough to jolt our government authorities into action,"​ Greenpeace said in a statement. "We need mandatory labelling for products containing GMOs in order to safeguard the rights and welfare of Filipino consumers."​Greenpeace said recent tests it commissioned showed "widespread presence and massive use of GMOs"​ in food products sold in the Philippines, including several baby food products. The environmental group also warned of threats posed by genetically altered crops in Southeast Asia. "In the Philippines, ongoing field trials of genetically modified corn by Monsanto and long term plans for the commercial planting of GMO crops, including rice, pose a real threat to the country's environment and rice diversity,"​ it said. Biotechnology firm Monsanto is conducting field trials of BT corn, which contains the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) proteins and is resistant to the Asian corn borer pest, at seven sites in the Philippines. Last month, activists in the first such attack in Asia, destroyed one Monsanto's field-testing areas for BT corn in southern Philippines. Agriculture undersecretary Ernesto Ordones has said the field trials on BT corn were made to determine its effect on health and the environment.