In the flurry of public debate over the past few weeks, some officials and proponents of GMOs
said those who are against them are the sort who would believe that the earth is flat. Thai
society has been inundated with the idea that we will be left out if we do not develop our own
GMO crops.
The companies and state officials that promote the biotechnology often say that GMOs will
bring major benefits to farmers in Thailand. They say that they will be more resistant to pests
and even that GMOs can be grown in saline or poor soil and resist drought.
Agriculture Minister Somsak has defended GMOs on many television programmes and in
Parliament, where he said that Thailand can be a great power in agriculture if it experiments
with GMOs and other countries do not. On the other hand, he said, if other countries do it and
Thailand does not, we will be at a disadvantage.
Dr Sakarindr Bhumiratana, the director of the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, who has also recently appeared on
many forums, defended experimentation in Thailand in his testimony by saying that there are many countries which have already been
engaging in GMO research. He downplayed fears of "gene jumping", a phenomenon in which genes introduced into GM crops turn up in the
genomes of other plants growing nearby. He said the controversial papaya field trial was conducted in a safe way. Minister Somsak agreed,
saying that the fields are well fenced and there are security guards to protect the fields. This was, of course, before the announcement last week
that contamination had occurred.
On a televised debate in which Dr Sakarindr participated, Democrat party MP Khunying Dr Kallaya Sophonpanich questioned whether barbed
wire fences at Tha Phra's Horticultural Research station in Khon Kaen would protect them from GMO papaya pollen drifting to nearby fields.
Dr Sakarindr did not answer the question, but instead described the widespread popularity of GM crops around the world. He said that
altogether about 400 million rai are under cultivation, with the United States leading the way, followed by China. This is somewhat
incongruous with announcements by China on many occasions that the country would be going in the direction of organic farming.
In the flurry of public debate over the past few weeks, some officials and proponents of GMOs
said those who are against them are the sort who would believe that the earth is flat. Thai
society has been inundated with the idea that we will be left out if we do not develop our own
GMO crops.
The companies and state officials that promote the biotechnology often say that GMOs will
bring major benefits to farmers in Thailand. They say that they will be more resistant to pests
and even that GMOs can be grown in saline or poor soil and resist drought.
Agriculture Minister Somsak has defended GMOs on many television programmes and in
Parliament, where he said that Thailand can be a great power in agriculture if it experiments
with GMOs and other countries do not. On the other hand, he said, if other countries do it and
Thailand does not, we will be at a disadvantage.
Dr Sakarindr Bhumiratana, the director of the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, who has also recently appeared on
many forums, defended experimentation in Thailand in his testimony by saying that there are many countries which have already been
engaging in GMO research. He downplayed fears of "gene jumping", a phenomenon in which genes introduced into GM crops turn up in the
genomes of other plants growing nearby. He said the controversial papaya field trial was conducted in a safe way. Minister Somsak agreed,
saying that the fields are well fenced and there are security guards to protect the fields. This was, of course, before the announcement last week
that contamination had occurred.
On a televised debate in which Dr Sakarindr participated, Democrat party MP Khunying Dr Kallaya Sophonpanich questioned whether barbed
wire fences at Tha Phra's Horticultural Research station in Khon Kaen would protect them from GMO papaya pollen drifting to nearby fields.
Dr Sakarindr did not answer the question, but instead described the widespread popularity of GM crops around the world. He said that
altogether about 400 million rai are under cultivation, with the United States leading the way, followed by China. This is somewhat
incongruous with announcements by China on many occasions that the country would be going in the direction of organic farming.
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