Seksan, the owner of an electronics shop in Bangkok, said he loves to eat papaya
salad but now he has stopped because of the recent news about an agricultural
research project in Khon Kaen province in which GMO papayas are said to be
growing.
"I've seen many reports on television and in the newspapers. I think I had better stop
eating somtam, as I might get more than I need, and develop resistance to antibiotics,"
he said.
Sunee and Seksan are hardly alone in their suspicions of GMOs (genetically modified
organisms), despite the fact that there is no clear evidence to indicate that eating GM
products is harmful to humans. The doubts and phobia surrounding GMOs are
widespread in Thailand and around the world. People want to know what exactly is a
GMO and how it might affect long term health (see box with diagramme). The concern
reached new levels in Thailand recently with the announcement by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on August 20 that he had approved the
testing, planting and commercialisation of GM crops in Thailand, along with the news of the papaya experiments. Following a general outcry
from the public, the decision was reversed on August 31.
Chen Sritarang, a farmer of Ponkai village in Loei province wonders if anything is wrong with his papaya trees. "Have they been
contaminated?" he asked.
His neighbour, Sombat Sriharnchai, who said he learned about GMO papayas through a news programme, feels that farmers would be the
victims of reckless experiments by the government. "We farmers never know what the government officials are doing and they have never
asked if we want it or not," said Sombat.
The news that the government had allowed the open field trials of the GM crops upset many people, not only farmers. Vallop Pitchpongsa, an
organic produce exporter, said that he opposes any move to allow open field trials of GM crops because it would affect his business.
"Some importers require us to prove that our products are totally free from GMOs, without any contamination. This will be trouble for our
business and increase costs for verification and labelling," he said.