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15 March 2001, Manila, Philippines: Filipinos are unwittingly being force fed genetically engineered (GE) food in a long term experiment where impacts on human health and the environment are still largely unknown, according to Greenpeace.

This statement follows new laboratory tests commissioned by Greenpeace, which confirmed the presence of GE ingredients in ordinary food items sold in Philippine supermarkets.

"It is shocking to know that these GE items are already ending up on our food tables without the public's knowledge and consent," said Beau Baconguis, campaigner on Genetic Engineering for Greenpeace Southeast Asia. "Given the fact that scientists still do not know the long-term effects of releasing GE organisms into our environment and people's diets, this situation is akin to playing Russian Roulette with the people's health."

In recent tests commissioned by Greenpeace on 30 consumer food products bought from a Metro Manila supermarket, 11 products proved positive for GE contamination.

These products include;: Bonus Vienna Franks, Rica Protina hotdogs, Campo Carne Moby hotdogs, Purefoods Beefy hotdogs, Quality Foods budget franks, Crab Cake distributed by Foodmart Enterprises, Yung Ho soya drink, Doritos Smokey Red Barbecue, Nestle Nesvita Natural Cereal Drink, Isomil Soy infant formula and Knorr Cream of Corn soup.

Greenpeace is accusing the manufacturers of these products, especially the big multinational corporations like Nestle, Unilever, PepsiCo and Abbott, of practicing double standards since they are implementing GE free policies in richer countries.

The case of Starlink

While Greenpeace only tested for specific varieties of GE Soya and corn, it is also likely that further testing may have uncovered other varieties.

One such variety that has proven to be controversial is Starlink corn. Genetically engineered by Aventis agrochemical company to contain a protein called Cry9C. This protein is thought to have allergenic properties.

Although Starlink was not approved for human food use in the US, it was discovered last October in a wide range of US consumer foods produced by Kraft, Kellogg's, Mission foods and Safeways, which lead to a general recall of millions of products.

The US Department of Agriculture, while engaging in a very expensive buyback programme of the contaminated stocks, also deregulated Starlink for export - effectively sending the problem abroad.

When Starlink's Cry9C protein turned up in Japan, their government refused to allow contaminated US corn shipments into their country.

In contrast, the Philippine government did check for Starlink corn imports when this scandal broke out.

Hinting that Starlink may be in the Philippine food chain, the US Department of Agriculture notes: "The issue of Starlink corn, a Genetically Modified Organism corn used for feed but inadvertently found its way to the US food chain did not cause much alarm in the Philippines. The domestic feed milling industry has been relatively quiet with regards to biotechnology derived feed grains"

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Last modified: April 28, 2001