There is no basis for the Southeast Asian Research Institute on Community Empowerment (SEARICE) to insist that mystery shrouds the field testing of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant in six sites nationwide.

Biotechnology experts from the Department of Agriculture (DA) said SEARICE was wrong in saying that there was something sinister in the conduct of the tests, which was first revealed in this paper last week.

Information about Bt eggplant can be readily accessed in the public domain and from numerous websites, they said.

"In regard to the Bt eggplant in the Philippines, the project proponents have submitted the required detailed and relevant information to the respective regulatory agencies that decide which information may be shared with bonafide stakeholders who have legitimate interests and needs for relevant information," the experts stressed.

While access is available, they said the legitimate and legal interests of project proponents, like intellectual property rights (IPR), should be protected.

They noted that consultation had been conducted on Bt eggplant and added that there is mechanism for "an in-depth, scientific peer review of any activity that falls under the coverage of Executive Order  No. 514 and DA Administrative Order No. 8."

The experts explained that "inherent to this process is the anonymity of reviewers so they are insulated from external influence."

All the reviewers "are not known to the project proponents themselves."

Discussions on the review are done through written communication and consultation with the DA Biotechnology Core Team (DA-BCT).

The experts also rejected SEARICE claims that biotech crops have contaminated traditional crops and caused the loss of biodiversity.

"Over the past 14 years, commercial GM/biotech crops have been cultivated in an accumulated global area of almost one billion hectares. In no case has there been a documented case of loss of biodiversity directly attendant to the commercial cultivation of GM/biotech crops, nor has there been a serious case of cross-pollination with traditional crops or wild relatives that has led to the outlandish claim of loss of germplasm, culture and tradition," the experts noted.

"On the contrary, numerous scientific studies have demonstrated an increased ecological biodiversity in GM/biotech farms, with friendly and beneficial insects and other organisms coming back and thriving in abundance in GM/biotech farms as opposed to farms grown to conventional crop varieties and managed in the conventional way," they added.

"One need not go far to cite a specific example and experience -- the Philippines itself since 2003 has cultivated an accumulated area of more than one million hectares of GM/biotech corn, a natually cross-pollinating crop, with none of the claimed and alleged problems of cross-contamination or loss of biodiversity," the DA experts said.