Greenpeace anti-GMO suit junked

BANGKOK, Thailand – After more than a decade of court battles, Thailand’s Supreme Administrative Court last week dismissed the lawsuit filed by Greenpeace that sought to stop government’s demonstration plots for genetically modified (GM) papaya.

The verdict upheld the 2008 Central Administrative Court’s ruling that the Department of Agriculture had taken necessary steps to curb widespread use of GMO plants.

In 2006, Greenpeace filed a lawsuit against the DOA for alleged negligence in testing GM papaya at its research site in Khon Kaen province in 2004.

In 2008, the Central Administrative Court ruled that the DOA was not guilty of the charges filed by Greenpeace.

Greenpeace has threatened to call on the Thai government to cancel state support for GMO field trials in the country.

The move follows the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry’s recent announcement that it was looking to conduct a feasibility study to improve four economic crops, namely, maize, cassava, palm and sugar cane and will consider GMO options to boost production.

The DOA’s Biotechnology Research and Development Office chief Alongkorn Konthong is reportedly planning to ask the National Council for Peace and Order to lift the Thai Cabinet’s Resolution 2007 banning GMO field trials anywhere but on government land. ANN