{"id":4025,"date":"2019-12-24T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-24T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/?p=4025"},"modified":"2021-12-01T20:39:16","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:39:16","slug":"greenpeace-appeal-department-of-agriculture-to-revoke-golden-rice-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/press\/4025\/greenpeace-appeal-department-of-agriculture-to-revoke-golden-rice-approval\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace submits formal appeal to Dept. of Agriculture to revoke \u201cgolden rice\u201d approval"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Quezon City <\/em>\u2014 Greenpeace today formally submitted their appeal for the Department of Agriculture (DA) to revoke the approval of genetically modified \u201cgolden rice.\u201d The submission came together with several other appeals from farmer, consumer and other public interest groups to ask the DA to reverse the decision.<\/p>\n\n

The DA, through the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), approved \u201cgolden rice\u201d for release as food, feed and for processing last 10 December 2019. Greenpeace believes the approval is unwarranted due to 1) the incomplete data submitted by the project proponents, and 2) the lack of transparency and adequate public participation throughout the approval process.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe BPI\u2019s approval of so-called \u2018golden rice\u2019 is extremely irresponsible and completely misguided,\u201d said Wilhelmina Pelegrina, senior campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia. \u201cGreenpeace condemns the BPI\u2019s systematic disregard of the precautionary principle, and of robust data that clearly show that the safety assessments submitted by GR proponents are flawed. We also believe the application was not transparent and feel that the approval was railroaded, with no attempt to include any meaningful public consultation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

On 24 October 2019, Greenpeace submitted to the DA, the BPI, and the DOH, comments on the \u201cConsolidated Report of PhilRice and IRRI\u2019s GR2E rice application for direct use as food and feed, or for processing.\u201d The scientific critique<\/a> noted that the supporting information and studies submitted by PhilRice and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) show deficiencies in the data provided for the risk assessment. These deficiencies cast major doubt on the assessment and the safety of \u201cgolden rice\u201d or GR2E for food and feed.<\/p>\n\n

\"Action
Greenpeace activists together with organic farmers and consumer groups rallied in front of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to urge the department not to approve the genetically modified “Golden Rice (GR) for commercial consumption. Greenpeace also said that the genetically modified Golden Rice is unnecessary given it’s inherent risks to human health and the environment.
\u00a9 Luis Liwanag \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Additionally, Greenpeace notes that the concerns of farmers, indigenous peoples, religious groups, youth, mothers, consumers and civil society groups were not considered during the process. The approval process failed to take into account the potential socio-economic impacts to farmers and indigenous peoples, as well as to local culture, ethics, and risks to social cohesion. Moreover, the assessment did not cover what the impact of \u201cgolden rice\u201d will be on further loss of markets for farmers due to crop contamination from genetically modified species.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace believes that the approval process for genetically modified organisms in the Philippines should abide by the precautionary principle and provide standards for safety and security of our citizens and the food we grow and consume. This process must not discount potential threats and should not be biased towards approval at the expense of safety considerations.<\/p>\n\n

\"Action
Close up of table with “Vitamin A Rich Food” sign on the table. Greenpeace activists together with organic farmers and consumer groups rallied in front of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to urge Agriculture Secretary, Proceso Alcala (2014), not to approve the genetically modified “Golden Rice (GR) for commercial consumption.
\u00a9 Luis Liwanag \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

\u201cThere are already proven solutions to Vitamin A deficiency which are cheaper, more practical, do not require the risky genetic modification of food crops, and which are not beholden to giant, foreign, agri-chemical companies,\u201d said Pelegrina. \u201c\u2019Golden rice\u2019\u201d is unnecessary, more so at a time of climate emergency when resilient food and farm systems are imperative. We believe the DA should be working with other government agencies to promote healthy eating and healthy diets rather than promote unproven quick fixes like \u2018golden rice\u2019 that have not been proven to contain any nutritional value[2]. Empowering people to have access to and grow diverse grains, fruits and vegetables for diverse diets is the solution to food and nutrition security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

For more information:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Angeli Cantillana, Communications Campaigner, Greenpeace Southeast Asia \u2013 Philippnes, +63 998 595 9733 | angeli.cantillana@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Wilhelmina Pelegrina, Senior Campaigner, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, +63 917 530 8507<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tReconnect with food\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

It\u2019s time for an eco-food revolution.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t \n TAKE ACTION\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greenpeace formally appeals to the Department of Agriculture (DA) to revoke the approval of\u00a0genetically\u00a0modified\u00a0\u201cgolden rice\u201d in the Philippines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":4028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"[caption id=\"attachment_4038\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1200\"]\"Action Close up of table with \"Vitamin A Rich Food\" sign on the table. Greenpeace activists together with organic farmers and consumer groups rallied in front of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to urge Agriculture Secretary, Proceso Alcala, not to approve the genetically modified \"Golden Rice (GR) for commercial consumption.[\/caption]\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_4028\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1200\"]\"Action An activist stands in front of a banner reading \"Don't Approve Golden Rice!\" together with organic farmers and consumer groups, who rallied in front of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to urge Agriculture Secretary, Proceso Alcala, not to approve the genetically modified \"Golden Rice (GR) for commercial consumption.[\/caption]\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_4030\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1200\"]\"Action Greenpeace activists together with organic farmers and consumer groups rallied in front of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to urge Agriculture Secretary, Proceso Alcala, not to approve the genetically modified \"Golden Rice (GR) for commercial consumption.
Carrying baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables rich in beta carotene, the green groups argued that alternative solutions to eradicate Vitamin A deficiency can be found in our local vegetables and other food groups. Greenpeace also said that the genetically modified Golden Rice is unnecessary given it's inherent risks to human health and the environment.[\/caption]","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-4025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability","tag-food","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4025"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11230,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4025\/revisions\/11230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4025"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=4025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}