By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

CEBU, Philippines – Scientists today are using genetic engineering to improve the short shelf-life and post-harvest losses of papaya and lessen use of pesticides on eggplants, experts said during a symposium on biotechnology and nutritionally enhanced food crops here.

According to Dr. Evelyn Mae Tecson-Mendoza, research professor of Biochemistry at the Institute of Plant Breeding-University of the Philippines Los Banos (IPB-UPLB), the transgenic papaya or genetically modified papaya by recombinant has now longer shelf-life than the ordinary papaya.

“The papaya usually ripens two days after having a full yellow color and you have to eat it on the second or the third day. Otherwise, it won’t be edible. With this technology, we can delay it from 4 up to 14 days,” elaborated Mendoza.

Delaying the ripening of papaya was made possible through suppressing the production of ethylene. This was done by inhibiting the ACC synthase from synthesizing through the antisense technology, Mendoza said.

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By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

CEBU, Philippines — Among the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Philippines is the most advanced in implementing safety regulations for genetically modified (GM) crops, experts said here.

“Pinaka-advance tayo kasi we were able to commercialize GM products such as Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) corn and herbicide-resistant corn. [We are the most advanced because we were able to commercialize genetically modified products such as Bt corn and herbicide-resistant corn.],” said Reynaldo Ebora, executive director of the Philippine Council for Advance Science and Technology Research and Development (PCASTRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

In contrast, LAO PDR and Myanmar are still in the initial stages of developing biosafety policies.

Biosafety laws in Cambodia and Malaysia were approved in January 2008 and July 2007, respectively. Meanwhile, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam that have existing regulations are conducting field trials, said Ebora during a symposium on Biotechnology and Nutritionally Enhanced Food and Crops here in Cebu.

Ebora pointed out that market acceptance of GM crops is not a problem in the Philippines.

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