Genetically modified food in Asia
Research into genetically modified food is promoted in the Philippines.
This bag of rice contains a genetically modified strain |
This week 101 East goes to the Philippines where research into genetically modified food is promoted, and asks if the consumers are well-informed enough to welcome it.
For more than three billion people around the world rice is a daily food, a simple dependable staple. But today’s consumer might be getting more than they expected.
A bag of rice is as much a product of science as it is of nature. Rice that contains a genetically modified strain is illegal in most of the world, including the Philippines, and yet we found it readily available in a Manilla supermarket just a few weeks ago. It has since been taken off the shelves.
Greenpeace is investigating the ease at which contaminated rice from the US enters the supermarket chains in the Philippines. But the commodification of GM food is not a matter of choice but of weak regulation that enables GM manufacturers to intensify their research and production in Asia.
Does the world need genetically modified rice and is it already too late to stop it?
Daniel Ocampo of Greenpeace and Duncan Macintosh of International Rice Research Institute join Teymoor Nabili in discussion.
Watch this episode of 101 East here:
Part 1
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Part 2
Find out more on 101 East at 16:30 GMT every Friday on Al Jazeera English and repeated during the week.
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Published On 17 Apr 2007