Philippines: Bt eggplant safe for human consumption, according to BPI

The Philippine government ruled that Bt talong, a genetically modified (GM) eggplant that contains a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), is just like a conventional eggplant and is safe for human consumption.This was according to International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), a not-for-profit international organization that shares the benefits of crop biotechnology to various stakeholders, particularly resource-poor farmers in developing countries like the Philippines. To complete the biosafety regulatory process, Bt eggplant will now just need commercial propagation approval for environmental safety assessment before it can be made available to the public.ISAAA was the first to reveal that after rigorous biosafety assessment, the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) has already approved Bt eggplant event ‘EE-1’ for direct use as food, feed, or for processing (FFP). BPI subsequently issued Biosafety ...