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BIOTECHNOLOGY is a priority in the government’s
development agenda to provide health-friendly food
security through sustainable development, alleviate
poverty and accelerate the modernization of
Philippine agriculture into the 21st century.
In July 16, 2001, President
Gloria Macapagal issued this policy statement: “We shall
promote the safe and responsible use of modern biotechnology
and its products as one of several means to achieve and
sustain food security, equitable access to health services,
sustainable and safe environment, and industry development.”
Needless to say, that government
thrust can only succeed on the basis of a comprehensive,
sustained collaboration among the government, private
business and the various sectors, especially tapping the
partnerships and networks forged by people’s organizations
and civil-society groups. The urgent need of the moment is a
national movement for biotechnology, with all players and
stakeholders bound by the simple conviction that pushing the
frontiers of science is the only way to go in order to
surmount the challenge of feeding a growing, hungry world
without depleting the environment.
Biotech for Life was set up to
fill this need. It binds together the government and the
private sector, through the Department of Agriculture, the
Department of Science and Technology’s PCARRD (Philippine
Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources
Research and Development), the SEARCA (Southeast Asian
Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in
Agriculture), and the BCP (Biotechnology Coalition of the
Philippines).
The Biotechnology Media and
Advocacy Resource Center was also set up for the public to
have an easy acess to their various information materials
and activities. |
