Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin has urged the use of safe alternatives to genetically modified organism (GMO) in the country in a pastoral statement issued amid claims of agrochemical firms the technology has church backing.

"Genetic engineering is acceptable only if all risks are minimized," he said. "Otherwise, one may easily succumb to temptations of productivity and profit at the expense of the people and the environment."

The archbishop's statement echoed Vatican's latest position on this biotechnological issue that sharply divides scientists and researchers all over the world.

Speaking before an estimated 50,000 farmers from Italy and elsewhere at a special outdoor mass for farmers, Pope John Paul II said on November last year that using GMO to increase farm production was contrary to God's will.

"As long as foreseeable dangers are not fully identified, studied and avoided, safe alternative procedures should be used," said the influential archbishop of Manila. "(I)f none, testing and development of the technology should be delayed altogether."

In a bid to win over support of the predominantly Catholic populace of the country, the proponents of GMO use in public fora and promotional materials the old Vatican statement endorsing genetic engineering to improve living conditions of farmers.

Sin said "certain experiments and marketing strategies may have detrimental effects on different areas of human existence, such as health and safety, environment and biodiversity, culture, consumers rights and proper distribution of food and earnings."

There is still no consensus among scientists worldwide over the issue of the technology's safety, and failures in many GMO farms cast doubts on the efficacy of it.

Current field testing in the country will not respond to safety queries as they are confined on proving the effectiveness of the technology.

Farmers decry meanwhile that modern biotechnology will simply tighten the grip of agrochemical firms on agriculture with GMO seeds patented to global food and chemical giants.

"While technology merely asks, 'can it be done?, ethics on the other hand brings us one step farther and asks, 'if it can be done, should it be done?'" said Sin in the statement obtained by the Inquirer.

Through genetic engineering, natural and conventional processes of improving traits of living organisms are now being abandoned for the still infantile technology.

By manipulating genetic makeup in an organism, characteristics could be altered or modified in a process that transcends species boundaries.

As such, genetic engineering represents awesome, God-like powers to create, change and direct evolution of all life, from microorganisms to human beings.

Transnational firms Monsanto and Pioneer have been conducting open-field testing of genetically engineered Bt corn in Mindanao while experiments on transgenic rice varieties by the International Rice Research Institute are awaiting approval of the Philippine biosafety regulatory agency.

The Macapagal-Arroyo administration vowed to hold broad consultations on the issue amid calls of civil society groups for a moratorium of GMO open-field experiments in the country.

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