THAILAND: Greenpeace, Gov’t Lock Horns over GE Papaya

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Sonny Inbaraj

BANGKOK, Jul 29 2004 (IPS) - The environmental group Greenpeace and Thailand’s Agriculture Department have locked horns over the planting of genetically engineered (GE) papaya, with activists claiming that a government field research station is the source of genetic contamination of one of the country’s most important staple foods.

This follows a protest action Tuesday by environmental activists who, dressed in protective suits, trespassed onto a government field research station in Khon Kaen province, north-east of the Thai capital, and began removing GE papaya fruit from the trees and securing them in hazardous material containers inside the field trial site.

The Agriculture Department has filed property damage charges against Greenpeace South- east Asia, based in Bangkok. The department’s chief Chakan Saengraksawong told reporters that the activists’ action had disrupted the government’s research that had been going on for almost 10 years.

‘’Our scientists were close to reaching a conclusion, but now we have to go right back to the start,” said Chakan.

But Greenpeace says its concerns are valid since it twice tested batches of papaya seeds from the native species ‘Khak Dam Tha Phra’, sold by the research station to farmers.

‘’Independent laboratory tests have shown that packages of papaya seeds being sold by the Department of Agriculture’s own research station contain genetically modified seeds,” Varoonvarn Svangsopakul, Greepeace’s GE campaigner, told IPS.

‘’The experimental field, surrounded only by barbed wire and banana trees, was identified by Greenpeace as the source of the genetically modified seeds,” she added.

Varoonvarn said the testing was done in June and two weeks ago with the samples sent to GeneScan Ltd, a laboratory based in Hong Kong.

What is worrying to critics is that the government’s Khon Kaen agriculture research station is the source of papaya seeds for farmers in the north-east region – many of whom depend on the fruit for their income.

Green papaya is used to make a staple ‘som tum’ (papaya salad) dish, which supplements the diet of many poor Thais in the north-east provinces bordering Laos.

In 2001, Thailand imposed a ban on field trials of GE crops, and the termination of ongoing field trials of GE cotton and corn carried out by the transnational corporation Monsanto. The government has also banned all commercial planting of GE crops.

‘’The purpose of the ban on field trials imposed in 2001 was to prevent GE contamination,” Varoonvarn pointed out.

With the latest findings that Greenpeace released, she said: ‘’We now have proof that not only has this ban failed, but the Department of Agriculture itself has committed a crime that threatens an essential food with widespread contamination.”

But the Department of Agriculture has turned around and levelled accusations against Greenpeace saying it was the environmental group that had committed ‘’an illegal act” by taking genetically modified seeds out of their field trial site.

‘’It’s illegal to genetically modified seeds from our fields. It could lead to uncontrollable spread of GE crops as we have no idea what these people are going to do with them,” the department’s Chakan told the ‘Bangkok Post’ daily.

Last year, Greenpeace warned the Thai public of the environmental and health risks posed by GE papaya and called on the government to stop all planting of GE papaya anywhere in the country.

GE papaya has been genetically engineered to be resistant to the ringspot virus. This process involves cutting a gene from the ringspot virus and forcing it into the cell of a papaya.

This is done by randomly shooting the gene millions of times with a gene gun with the hope that it gets into the plant cell. As part of this process, another virus and bacteria resistant to antibiotics are added.

‘’Since the GE papaya contains a gene from the ringspot virus, there is a risk that when it is infected with other viruses it can produce new virus strains,” said Varoonvarn.

‘’In terms of human health risks, the build-up of antibiotic resistance is also a concern,” added the Greenpeace campaigner.

If anything, the experiences of farmers in Hawaii’s Big Island could serve as a warning for Thailand’s papaya growers.

In Hawaii, many organic farmers suffered big losses when GE papaya seeds got mixed into their organic papaya seeds. For other farmers, pollen from their neighbours GE papaya trees mixed with their organic papaya trees, creating GE papaya fruit.

In the end, the farmers were forced to destroy all their papaya trees to stop GE contamination.

Also, when Hawaiian farmers started growing GE papaya, they lost their biggest export market in Japan – which buys about 40 percent of the U.S. state’s papayas.

GE papaya is banned in Japan because the government is questioning the environmental and health risks involved.

According to reports, non-GE papaya growers are getting 300 to 700 percent premium for avoiding the GE variety.

Meanwhile, non-GE farmers in Mindanao in the southern Philippines are benefiting from Hawaii’s reduced ability to offer Japan conventional papaya.

‘’We’ve been calling for an end to this genetic experiment on the grounds that genetically modified organisms like GE papayas are uncontrollable,” said Varoonvarn. ‘’There can no longer be any doubt that this is true. And the government must take action to stop this experiment now.”