Greenpeace position refuted in GMO debate

This is a rejoinder to the article of Lea Guerrero, campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, titled “Who’s afraid of the GMO debate?” (Inquirer, 5/31/12)

First of all, I strongly disagree with Guerrero’s claim that “the health and environmental threats posed by GMOs are real and are based on sound and objective scientific studies.”

On the contrary, no less than Dr. Wayne Parrot, an American crop science expert from the University of Georgia, attested that “The ill effects of global warming can be reversed by increasing the areas planted to genetically modified crops.”

Moreover, according to Dr. Clive James, founder and chair of International Service for the Acquisition Agri-biotech Applications (ISAA), “Biotech crops can reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.”

Finally, in his article titled “Biotech crops are good for the environment” (Agriculture Monthly magazine, May issue), science writer Henrylito D. Tacio maintains that, “Planting biotech crops is good for the environment as it mitigates the effects of climate change brought about by global warming, curtail the use of pesticides and save the land for other uses.

—CRISOSTOMO B. VILAR,

vice mayor, Pagsanjan, Laguna;

chair, Cocofed, Pagsanjan Chapter