1.Destroy GMO-tainted papaya crops, researcher says
2.Genetically modified papaya found in Kanchanaburi: Chula researcher
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1.Destroy GMO-tainted papaya crops, researcher says
PONGPHON SARNSAMAK
The Nation, May 18 2012
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Destroy-GMO-tainted-papaya-crops-researcher-says-30182250.html

Academics yesterday called on the Agriculture Department to destroy farms growing Hawaiian papaya in Kanchanaburi province after a recent study found that these crops might be contaminated with genetically modified organisms (GMO).

The move came after a study conducted by Piyasak Chaumpluk from Chulalongkorn University's Department of Botany revealed on Wednesday that 29 samples of Hawaiian papaya tested in Kanchanaburi province were tainted.

"Tests show that papaya grown in 50-rai in Kanchanaburi province have GMO," Piyasak said. "The department should destroy these farms in order to prevent the contamination from spreading."

Piyasak said he had all the information ready, but did not want to make any of it public as it would affect the farmers. He also called on the department to compensate farmers whose farms would be destroyed, adding the authorities should not blame the farmers for this.

"I don't think they knew that the papaya seeds were tainted with GMO," he said.

He is also calling on the department to study the route of GMO-tainted products, from farms to fresh markets or supermarkets.

"We found that pollen from GMO-tainted papaya plants could have contaminated other papaya trees," he said.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace campaign coordinator for Southeast Asia Nattawika Ewsakul said so far the government had failed to control GMO contamination.

To date, the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry has used the 1964 Plant Quarantine Act to control GMO contamination in papaya, corn and yellow-bean farms.

"But the question is, why does the contamination still exist?" she asked. "It is because the government's measures have not been good enough."

Nattawika added that the government should pass the bio-safety bill, the draft for which has been languishing for the past two years.

"If government does nothing to control GMO contamination, then farmers will end up having to shoulder added costs of testing their crops for GMO," she said.
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2.Genetically modified papaya found in Kanchanaburi: Chula researcher
Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation, May 17 2012
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Genetically-modified-papaya-found-in-Kanchanaburi–30182185.html

Hawaiian genetically modified papayas have been found at a farmer's plantation in Kanchanaburi province, a study revealed yesterday.

Piyasak Chaumpluk, from Chulalongkorn University's Department of Botany, who conducted the study, said the papaya in Kanchanaburi would be sent to a local fresh market, a supermarket in a department store and for export to other countries.

He presented his findings to a seminar entitled "2012 Food Security Assembly" organised by BioThai Foundation, the Sustainable Agriculture Foundation, and Alternative Agriculture Network.

Piyasak collected 319 samples of plants that may be genetically modified (GMO). Of this number, some 27 samples were cotton, 74 samples were papaya, 108 samples were rice, 105 samples were maize. The rest were chilli, tomato, and yellow bean.

According to his laboratory study, 29 samples of Hawaiian papaya in Kanchanaburi were found to the tainted with GMO and nine samples of cotton were also contaminated with GMO in Kanchanaburi and Sukhothai provinces.

Three years ago, Piyasak had found GMO contamination in maize for animal feed and cotton.

He said the GMO contamination at the plantation in Kanchanaburi might be accidental.

"Of course, the finding of GMO contamination in plants will affect the country's image and I don't want to blame the farmer for being the cause of contamination at their plantation. I think they unintentionally did it," he said.

"The GMO contaminated plants will spread to other areas," he added.

Piyasak said he had sent his report to the Department of Agriculture and asked it to strictly control GMO contamination in crop production but he had had no response from the state agency.

To date, GMO crops are not allowed in Thailand. Previously, a field trial of GMO papaya in Khon Kaen province was destroyed by a group of environmental activists after they found large-scale contamination of a neighbouring papaya farm, which resulted from field trials.

Meanwhile, a state agency had complained that experiments with genetically modified organisms were a harmful activity under Article 67 (2) of the Constitution. But this was opposed by some biotechnological experts and academics, who said many studies over the past 10 years in the US, Canada, Japan and China showed that GMO products did not cause any impact on humans and animals.

Piyasak said growing crops with GMOs should be listed as a harmful activity because they would affect human health and the environment.

"If they [biotechnological experts] think that GMOs are good and will not affect to human health, why are they afraid of listing GMOs as a harmful activity?" he said.

"The government should make a clear decision on whether we will go with genetically modified crops or alternative agriculture. But now we have learnt that we cannot control the contamination," he said.