Wanted: More information on GMO

I am a farmer by birth and my heart has remained that of a farmer and will always be. I thank Ceres Doyo for her article “Consumers’ concerns on GE foods” (Opinion, 7/18/13). I read the article with so much curiosity, lapping up its relevance, especially to poor farmers who are always at the mercy of the big landlords in our country.

Believing in Ms Doyo’s capacity to network with reliable sources on the details of genetically modified organisms (GMO), I would like to ask her this question: If ever GMO crops, especially the Bt rice, will be implemented in the Philippines, from whom will poor farmers get the seeds? Will government provide farmers free access to the seeds? I am asking these questions (actually I have several in mind) because I have noticed that whenever I plant seeds taken directly or extracted from GMO crops like the Bt   talong   (eggplant), they do not grow.

From this experience, may I ask, is it true that a farmer must order or buy from a GMO company the seeds to plant for the next cropping season? If this is true, my God, it means multinationals, in cahoots with our very own government, will have an outright control of our very source of basic food to the prejudice of Filipinos, especially the poor farmers.

Personally, I feel cheated by the proponents of GMO because I see their motivation behind this thing—that is, monopoly and control. Other than the issues of health and food safety raised against GMO, what is clear here is the intent to monopolize mankind’s source of food.

I hope Ms Doyo, being a credible journalist, would help me/us be enlightened on this matter further. I am awaiting her next article on this issue.

May the Lord always bless Ms Doyo with good health and wellbeing!

—EDILBERTO BACULI,

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