FOCUS ON ASIA
http://www.gmwatch.org/asia.asp

After all the denials from the Prime Minister down (see item 3), the truth is finally starting to emerge. The Head of the Agriculture Department previously claimed, "I can speak with authority that Thailand has not produced GM papayas or GM crops of any kind."

In a humiliating climbdown, however, the Ministry has now had to admit the reality of the problem and set up a working committee "comprising lawyers and specialists" to oversee GM detection and eradication as well as taking action against anyone within "the control zone" who sells GM fruit.

1.GOVERNMENT ADMISSION: GM papaya confirmed
2.Clean-up operation likely for GM papaya
3.GMO FEARS: 'Papayas are not tainted'
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1.GOVERNMENT ADMISSION: GM papaya confirmed in NE
The Nation, Sep 15, 2004
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=1&id=120892&usrsess=1

Ministry says it will immediately destroy all crops found to be contaminated

The Agriculture Ministry yesterday admitted it had found genetically modified (GM) papaya on a farm in Khon Kaen and vowed to destroy the produce of any farm where GMO (genetically modified organism) contaminated fruit is discovered.

Agriculture Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said the ministry had found that of 239 analysed samples, one was a GM papaya.

The ministry took a total of 600 samples of papaya each from 2,600 farmers who had bought seedlings from the Agricultural Research and Development Office, Region 3.

Somsak said the Agriculture Office had destroyed the papaya on the farm and imposed a control zone within a 450metre radius of the GMO contamination to prevent its possible spread.

He added that the ministry had set up a working committee comprising lawyers and specialists to detect GMOs and would take action against farmers within the control zone who sell GM fruit.

The committee will also find out how the papaya of the ministry's research arm had become GMO contaminated.

The farmer whose papaya tested positive was identified as Samorn Nakkong, from Tambon Tha Phra, Muang district, who had bought 260 papaya seedlings from the Agricultural Research and Development Office, four kilometres from his home, in July. The office has yet to identify the papaya breed Khaek Dam or Khaek Nual which is GMO contaminated. Agriculture Ministry permanent secretary Banpot Hongthong said he ordered the Agriculture Department's centre in Khon Kaen to stop its GMO experiment after the contamination was found. Papaya on contaminated farms would "be destroyed immediately", he said.

"The ministry is sincere and is open about the contamination. We reveal the information and solve the problem immediately. That openness will show importers of papaya that the government does not support GM plants," he added.

He said the ministry would also punish the officials responsible for the GMO contamination pending the findings of the panel. Biothai director Withoon Lianchamroon said the best way to solve the contamination problem was for the government to pay compensation to all 2,600 farmers and destroy all the papaya on their farms, because the cost of GMO testing Bt1,600 per sample was prohibitive.

Withoon called on the government to scrap the GMO experiment of Kasetsart University, but Agriculture Department director general Chakan Saengraksawong said the experiments of both Kasetsart and Mahidol universities would continue.

Lab tests by the environmental organisation Greenpeace and the Human Rights Commission have independently found GMO papaya on two other farms.

Thai law forbids the public sale of GM seeds and requires products containing more than five per cent of a genetically modified ingredient to be labelled.

Greenpeace in July accused the government of illegally selling GM papaya seeds after the environmental group raided a state-owned farm and conducted its own tests.

Withoon said that consumer protection groups and his office would take samples of papaya from seven more provinces. The results will be known in two weeks.
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2.Clean-up operation likely for GM papaya
KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
Bangkok Post, 14 Sep 2004
http://www.biothai.org/cgi-bin/content/news/show.pl?0331

First concrete action since denial of spread

Clean-up operations will be organised to tackle possible contamination of plantations in the country by genetically-modified (GM) papayas, the Agriculture Department said yesterday.

The procedure has three stages - eradication of all papaya trees in affected plantations, imposition of 400-metre quarantine zones and investigations into how the contamination occurred, said department chief Chakan Saengraksawong.

The steps are similar to existing plant disease outbreak control measures, he said, and will be set up under the Plant Quarantine Act, which prohibits planting of 89 transgenic crops, including papaya, outside the government's research station due to the potential impact on human health and the environment.

The is the agency's first concrete action since environmental group Greenpeace said it found transgenic papayas, developed by the department's Khon Kaen horticultural research station, in a local farmer's plantation late last month.

Greenpeace alleged the department had illegally distributed genetically modified organisms (GMOs) - papaya seeds - to farmers, a claim denied by the department.

Mr Chakan said the department had randomly tested 300 papaya samples collected from 2,600 farmers who bought papaya seeds from the station last year.

"If a papaya sample tests positive for GMOs, a clean-up will go ahead. Within quarantine zones, all papaya trees will be tested and destroyed if they contain GMOs,'' he said.

Mr Chakan also called on the National Human Rights Commission to release test results on the native papayas from the Khon Kaen plantations so the department could quickly destroy the transgenic papayas if the native stock is affected.

Last week, the commission collected 15 papaya samples from local farmers in Khon Kaen to verify Greenpeace's claim of the spread of transgenic papaya seeds from the department's research station.

A source at the commission said tests, conducted by Mahidol University's laboratory, had found one papaya sample containing GMOs.

However, the result needs to be confirmed by the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology before Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is informed tomorrow, the source added.
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3.GMO FEARS: 'Papayas are not tainted'
The Nation, 4 Sep 2004
http://www.biothai.org/cgi-bin/content/news/show.pl?0304

Ministry denies local varieties contaminated during field trials

The Agriculture Department yesterday denied that papayas destined for European markets and elsewhere were genetically modified crops.

"Exporters can apply for a department certificate to prove the papayas have not been contaminated," said department director general Chakarn Saengruksawong.

Six exporters have sought and received such certificates for their papaya exports to Poland and the Netherlands, he said.

Chakarn said his department's field tests with genetically modified (GM) papayas had not contaminated local crops and that Thailand had not condoned the planting of GM crops.

"I can speak with authority that Thailand has not produced GM papayas or GM crops of any kind. Environmental groups, such as Greenpeace, are wel-come to verify my statement," he said.

He warned that opponents of GM crops should not make |wild accusations about papaya contamination without |checking.

Greenpeace Southeast Asia took up Chakarn's challenge and called on the authorities to stop skirting around the issue of GM papayas and begin to destroy and clean up contaminated crops.

"Test results from independent laboratories in Hong Kong show that some GM papayas on the market are of the Kaek Dam Tha Phra strain, which is available only through the research station run by the Agriculture Department in Khon Kaen," Greenpeace executive director Jiragorn Gajaseni said.

The test results prove field trials of GM papayas had contaminated local crops, she said.

The contamination is a time bomb that could destroy the agricultural industry if authorities failed to deal with it quickly, Jiragorn said.

Organic agriculture advocate Withoon Panyakul urged the authorities to present proof that papaya seeds distributed to farmers were not contaminated.

"Lingering doubts about Thai GM papayas can be dispelled quickly if authorities rush to destroy suspicious papaya crops," he said, drawing an analogy to the culling of millions of chickens to contain the spread of avian flu.

Papaya farmer Somkuan Sriwongchotisakul said she was willing to destroy her crops in Khon Kaen's Phon district if authorities could prove the contamination.

Greenpeace said that the papaya samples from Somkuan's plot were GM papayas.

Somkuan said if her papayas were contaminated, she should receive compensation from the authorities as her seeds came from a government research station.