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Agricultural Biotechnology In The Philippines: Current Trends And Future Directions
To: gentech@gen.free.de
Subject: Agricultural Biotechnology In The Philippines: Current Trends And Future
Directions
From: David Tribe <detribe@unimelb.edu.au>
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 10:14:42 +1000
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Agricultural Biotechnology In The Philippines: Current Trends And
Future Directions
- Saturnina C. Halos, Ph.D. , <halos@mozcom.com> Senior Project
Development Adviser, Bureau of Agricultural Research
What is biotechnology and why is it specially mentioned?
Biotechnology: is a collection of techniques or tools using live
cells, cell parts, tissues or information about the DNA and life
processes to make/improve a product/ process or to improve an
organism. Techniques are often classified traditional and modern.
Traditional biotechnology products are the result of microbial
activity. Examples include beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks,
vinegar, chemical feedstocks like butanol, the citric acid in your
softdrinks, antibiotics, enzymes, transformed products like cheese
and certain medical substances that makes them safer/more effective,
vaccines and soil inoculants. The earliest recorded history of
traditional biotechnology dates 6,000 BC.
Modern biotechnology products include tissue-cultured plants
(1970's), mammalian/animal cell lines - first report, 1945,
transgenics or genetically engineered organisms more notoriously
known as GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms that produce:
therapeutic human proteins, recombinant vaccines, recombinant
enzymes, diagnostic/analytical kits based on proteins and DNA
fragments, transgenic (GM) seeds. In 1982 the USFDA approved the
marketing of human insulin, first commercial application of GMOs, in
this case a genetically engineered bacteria.
There are several advantages of modern biotechnology. 1.It makes
products that cannot be produced using traditional techniques e.g.
Clones of tissue-cultured plants, therapeutic human proteins, Bt
corn, longer shelf-life carnation/tomato, papaya ringspot virus
resistant papaya 2. More rapid development of product such as
transgenic or GM varieties: development takes only one-half the time
compared with traditional breeding e.g. a new rice variety takes 12
years to develop using traditional breeding methods but takes only
5-6 years with genetic engineering. 3. More reliable and rapid
analytical kits can be produced. Analytical kits like diagnostic kits
are used to detect the presence of a particular species of a microbe
that causes a disease or one considered a pollutant. The tests are
based on the genetic material, the DNA or on a protein that is very

specific for that particular species or for a particular strain,

breed, variety or individual of the species. Some bacteria can now be
detected in less than an hour compared with the lengthy procedure of
growing them in culture , testing their activity and looking them
under the microscope which may take weeks or months. 4. More
effective and safer vaccines are produced. Traditionally, vaccines
are produced by growing lots of the pathogen or the disease-causing
bacteria or virus, weakening these and are then injected into people
or animals. If the injected individual is strong enough it will
become immune to the disease, however, when the injected individual
is weak, it succumbs to the disease. New vaccines developed through
modern biotechnology do not cause the disease because only a fragment
of the pathogen is injected into the body.
Biotechnology Applications In Agriculture Owing to the extensive R &
D in various countries, many products improving agricultural
production has emerged. Many of these products are imported into the
country and are now extensively used such as recombinant enzymes in
feeds. Examples of these products and their extent of use or study in
the country are given below
Products

Philippines

For livestock production: Diagnostic kits with DNA fragments/protein;

DNA tests for strain ID Feed Enzymes ( recombinant and non-recomb)
; Vaccines- recombinant ; non-recombinant
For crop production: Tissue-cultured plants - locally produced
banana, abaca, sugarcane, ornamentals sweet potato: R& D (many labs)
Diagnostic kits to ensure disease-free seeds- Import/R & D (BIOTECH/UPLB)
DNA tests for breeding work
- Rice, coconut mungbean, corn at
PhilRice, IPB/UPLB
Biotechnology Applications In Agriculture
Philippine experience

Agencies

Inoculants

N-fertilizer substitutes
BIOTECH
limited commercial production
Biocontrol agents ( R & D)
Many agencies

GM crops

only R & D
2 (500sqm @) Bt corn trials
Private/IPB
Xa21 rice for trials
PhilRice
Vit A rice
PhilRice
Insect resistant rice
PhilRice
Fungus resistant rice
PhilRice
PRSV-resistant papaya
IPB/UPLB
Bunchy top virus resistant banana
IPB/UPLB
long-shelf life mango & papaya IPB/UPLB
Fatty acid altered coconut
IPB/UPLB

World Experience With GM Crops

In R & D, the first GM-plant was produced in 1982, that is, the world
has 19 years of R & D experience involving thousands of laboratories.
The first field tests done in 1986, that is, 15 years of field test
experience, with thousands of field tests carried out in 45

countries, with 56 different crops, transferred with 50 different

traits governed by hundreds of different genes.
GM crops are commercially planted in 13 countries in the world
including China with 500,000 has and increasing and Indonesia who is
planting 10,000 has of Bt cotton this year. A total of 44.2 Million
has were planted in Yr 2000. Major crops are herbicide resistant
soybean and Bt corn. Today, the soybean in the world market contains
about 50% GM soybean and the corn about 16% Bt corn. Both commodities
have always been imported by the Philippines earlier than 1996 when
these GM crops were first extensively planted by the USA where our
soybeans and corn come from .
In drafting the AFMA, the technical staff had been very much aware of
the problems confronting Philippine agriculture: A contracting land
area that is brought on by the conversion of rich irrigated
accessible agriculture land into industrial site, residential areas
or golf courses; Dwindling water supply where domestic needs compete
with agricultural needs; Declining soil fertility due to surface
run-off and other soil degrading conditions; Diminishing rates of
yield increases that indicates that current technological
interventions have reached the plateau of their effect on crop
production; Pollution of water bodies due to misuse of fertilizers
and Poor yields.
Compared with other countries our national average yields are very
low. For example in corn production, we have the lowest average
yields in the following selected countries.
Country
Area planted(ha)
Ave yield MT/ha
Philippines
2.1 Million
1.7
Indonesia
3.0
2.0
Thailand
1.5
3.5
USA
30
8.0
Our corn farmers thus, have difficulties in competing against
imported corn even within our own markets. Added to these problems is
a rapidly growing population that will soon reach 80 Million in 2010,
thereby necessitating that we adopt strategies that will increase
yields per unit area in a sustainable manner. The constraints to crop
production must be addressed if we are to achieve this aim.
*In corn, the Asiatic corn borer causes 30-100% loss in yield In
abaca, the bunchy top disease cause 50% reduction in fiber yield In
banana, the bunchy top disease cause 0 fruit yield
Biotechnology can thus help us develop solutions to these technical
problems plaguing crop production. However, to enable us to fully use
biotechnology, we also need to address the issues that prevent us in
using this technology.
Constraints To Biotechnology Development
1.Inadequate and inconsistent funding Although this is a perennial
lament of scientists, it has reached a level of the ridiculous when a
biotechnology R & D project is maintained at P1,000 a month an amount
not even sufficient to buy a critical reagent in one's expriment. Or,
that the project which received sufficient funding was suddenly

cut-off this year due to anumber of ridiculous reasons.

2.Unsatisfactory R & D infrastructure The evaluation and approval
process of projects is sometimes politically motivated. Exchange of
information and collaboration among laboratories is not encouraged by
an incentive system that focuses on the individual.
3.Very modest number of scientists trained in modern biotechnology.
The few that we have are found in different laboratories each working
on a different problem.
4. Too rigid regulatory framework for research The NCBP guidelines
are similar to rigid guidelines adopted by more advanced countries in
1980's. With the extensive experience that the world now has in
biotechnology R & D, there is no reason to follow some of these rigid
requirements as they imply danger to the layman. The absence of a
regulatory framework for the commercial applications of GMOs prevents
the rapid transfer of appropriate technologies such as the Bt corn to
the Filipino farmer.
5. Strong misinformation campaign The campaign against GM crops is
well-funded by foreign interest groups as indicated by one Senate
hearing in the last Congress. The propaganda tactics have confused
many policy makers and the public about the real issues on GM crops.
The only option offered by this propaganda is outright rejection of a
very powerful and useful technology for agricultural modernization.
Handling The Issues Against Gm Crops Policy proposal: To adequately
address the issues leveled against GM crops we need to separate the
technical from ideological/political and trade issues. The technical
issues include food safety and environmental safety. To address these
issues we have to establish the regulatory framework that allows
science to settle them. The regulatory framework covering the
commercial planting of GM seeds must be put in place immediately to
identify the kind of experiments, the manner on which they must be
carried out, the people who can implement such experiments, etc. so
as to produce the data needed to address the issues of health and
environmental safety. These guidelines will facilitate the job of the
National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines.
The trade issues are quite complex and must include strategies on how
the country can cope up with globalization. It would be helpful to
enlist the expertise of economists as well as the foreign and trade
officers. The ideological and political issues such as multinationals
control of food supply and small farmers' lack of access to GM seeds
can be addressed with an appropriate biotechnology development
program. Although our hybrid corn experience indicates that
multinationals cannot control food supply since only 20-25% of our
total corn area is planted to hybrid seeds sold by multinationals.
Furthermore, multinationals are not addressing problems of
resource-poor farmers simply because these farmers cannot afford to
buy their seeds. Hence to enable resource-poor farmers to access the
GM technology, we must support public R & D institutions to develop
affordable biotech seeds targeting problems of small farmers of
limited water supply, need for expensive inputs like pesticide and
fertilizers and too much break-backing farm labor. These biotech
seeds may well compete with GM seeds offered by the multinationals
and hence preventing monopoly. China adopted this strategy and
locally developed GM seeds now compete with Monsanto seeds. Simply
ignoring a technology will not make the technology go away if our

neighbors are just as bent in using it wisely. It will make our

agriculture more vulnerable with the country more dependent on
imports and our farmers more non-competitive.
(Definition: Biotech variety - variety developed using genetic
engineering, marker-assisted selection (MAS) and other iotech
techniques) This policy direction has been adopted by China and South
Africa. Their experience shows that small farmers gained more than
the rich farmers from GM crops. In Bt cotton farming in South Africa,
small farmers' increase in profits was about 28% compared with that
of the big commercial farmers of about 18%. Note however that both
classes of farmers benefited from the technology. Also in the USA,
economic studies showed that the biggest gainers in the use of the GM
technology are the farmers.
Another advantage of GM crops already reported is the reduction in
insecticide use with Bt crops: Bt crops reduce the amount of
pesticides released into the environment as well as the incidence of
poisoning among farmers aside from reducing cost of production.
Variety

Insecticide load
Insecticide poisoning
kg/ha
reported(%of farmers)

Only Bt

10.3

4.7

Bt + non-Bt

29.4

10.8

Only non-Bt

57.8

22.2

Conclusion: Biotechnology especially modern biotechnology which

offers novel approaches in solving problems is a powerful tool for
developing solutions to many technical problems in Philippine
agriculture. If we use BIOTECHNOLOGY with care, we can help increase
yields per unit area, increase farmers' incomes, reduce incidence of
pesticide poisoning, protect the environment; produce safe and
nutritious foods at affordable prices
In sum, A well-directed and fully supported biotechnology program can
help attain the AFMA goals of food security and reduce rural poverty

Transcript of Current Trends in Biotechnology (Global Scene)

Current Trends in Biotechnology (Global Scene)
In recent years, revolution in biology has occurred due to the potentials of biotechnology.
Techniques have been developed to produce rare and medicinally valuable molecules, to change
hereditary traits of plants and animals, to diagnose diseasesand cure them either through
biotechnologically derived proteins and polypeptides forming a new class of potential drugs,or
through immunodiagnostically designed vaccines and also to clean up the environment. In this
way, biotechnology has great impacts in the fields of health, food/agriculture and environmental
protection. Due to rapid developments, there seems
to be no basic difference between thepharmaceutical industry and the biotechnological industry.

Globally, future biotech products may include:

BIOPHARMING
the production of pharmaceuticals in crops to include antibodies, antigens, growth factors,
hormones, enzymes, blood proteins and collagen for cancer, HIV, heart disease, diabetes,
Alzheimer's disease, kidney disease, Crohn's disease, cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis, spinal
cord injuries, hepatitis C, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obesity and arthritis.
AQUA ADVANTAGE
Salmon, Tilapia, Trout and Flounder (Developed by Aqua Bounty Farms) -- capability of growing
from egg to market size in half the time compared with nontransgenic; gene construct--antifreeze protein promoter + salmon growth hormone)
BIOTECHNOLOGY
defined as any biology-based technology which uses organisms or their parts to make or modify
products, or improve plants, animals and microorganisms. It ranges from the simplest such as
baking, making use of yeast to the complex, the recombinant DNA technology or the classical to
include biofertilizers, biological nitrogen fixation and fermentation to the modern biotechnology
which ranges from plant tissue culture, cell culture, recombinant diagnostic and genetic
engineering.
BIOFUELS
first generation from sugarcane, starchy crops such as maize, cassava and second generation
from cellulosic ethanol from agricultural and forest wastes, grasses, etc.
Top Ten Biotech Trends for the 21st Century
By 2020, we will decipher the human genome, the blueprint of our DNA.
Genetic solutions to human ills will be highly prized intellectual property.
New biotech drugs will save countless lives and eliminate many diseases.
We will create designer babies with altered genes to enhance their capabilities and eliminate
unwanted characteristics.
We will learn to turn on and off certain genes to influence performance and health.
The convergence of biotech and computers will accelerate the genetic redesign of all living
things.
We will learn to clone organs to enhance health and longevity.
Privacy issues about access to individuals genetic data will cause conflicts among people,
business, and governments.
Careers, relationships, and opportunities will be influenced by genetic heritage.
Biotech for human enhancement will be the most profitable industry in the 21st century.

EXAMPLES:
Evaluation of Hematological and Biochemical Parameters of Magnetic Field Exposed Albino Rats.
The present investigation was carried out by exposing the adult male albino rats to the magnetic
field of 202T against the control group and both were analyzed for haematological and
biochemical changes. The results showed that the magnetic field exposed (MF) animals showed

significant increase in RBCs, WBCs, Hbs and platelet count as well as decrease in Red blood cell
indices values of MCV, MCH and MCHC. In addition, the MF exposed group also showed
significant increase of AST and ALT levels in plasma indicating the involvement of MF on liver cell
membranes. The haematological parameters and liver enzymes were affected by the
electromagnetic field exposure suggesting the possible induction of hazardous biological effects
during the exposure to magnetic field.
Towards practical implementation of bioelectrochemical wastewater treatment .
Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs), such as microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and microbial electrolysis
cells (MECs), are generally regarded as a promising future technology for the production of
energy from organic material present in wastewaters. The current densities that can be
generated with laboratory BESs now approach levels that come close to the requirements for
practical applications. However, full-scale implementation of bioelectrochemical wastewater
treatment is not straightforward because certain microbiological, technological and economic
challenges need to be resolved that have not previously been encountered in any other
wastewater treatment system. Here, we identify these challenges, provide an overview of their
implications for the feasibility of bioelectrochemical wastewater treatment and explore the
opportunities for future BESs.
Detection of genetically modified organisms in foods.
Legislation enacted worldwide to regulate the presence of genetically modified organisms
(GMOs) in crops, foods and ingredients, necessitated the development of reliable and sensitive
methods for GMO detection. In this article, protein- and DNA-based methods employing western
blots, enzyme-linked
immunosorbant assay, lateral flow strips, Southern blots, qualitative-, quantitative-, real-timeand limiting dilution-PCR methods, are discussed. Where information on modified gene
sequences is not available, new approaches, such as near-infrared spectrometry, might tackle
the problem of detection of non-approved genetically modified (GM) foods.
The efficiency of screening, identification and confirmation strategies should be examined with
respect to false-positive rates, disappearance of marker genes, increased use of specific
regulator sequences and the increasing number of GM foods.

Classification of platelet concentrates: from pure platelet-rich plasma (P-PRP) to leucocyte- and
platelet-rich fibrin (L-PRF).
The topical use of platelet concentrates is recent and its efficiency remains controversial. Several
techniques for platelet concentrates are available; however, their applications have been
confusing because each method leads to a different product with different biology and potential
uses. Here, we present classification of the different platelet concentrates into four categories,
depending on their leucocyte and fibrin content: pure platelet-rich plasma (P-PRP), such as cell
separator PRP, Vivostat PRF or Anitua's PRGF; leucocyte- and platelet-rich plasma (L-PRP), such
as Curasan, Regen, Plateltex, SmartPReP, PCCS, Magellan or GPS PRP; pure plaletet-rich fibrin (PPRF), such as Fibrinet; and leucocyte- and platelet-rich fibrin (L-PRF), such as Choukroun's PRF.
This classification should help to elucidate successes and failures that have occurred so far, as
well as providing an objective approach for the further development of these techniques.

THE REVOLUTION OF LIVING THINGS

Biotechnology will begin to revolutionize life itself by 2015. Disease, malnutrition,food
production, pollution, life expectancy, quality of life, crime, and security will besignificantly
addressed, improved, or augmented. Some advances could be viewed as accelerations of
human-engineered evolution of plants, animals, and in someways even humans with
accompanying changes in the ecosystem. Research is also under way to create new, free-living
organisms.

THE END..