‘High-Powered Objectives’ Archives
345.6 cavans per hectare: S & T Intervention
Here’s a stunner to Filipino rice farmers of Eastern Visayas and the rest of the country! A Believe it or Not story? You better believe it! This column’s chosen banner headline may appear a ‘joke’ to some quarters, but mind you it’s a fact because of S & T Intervention. Last year, Pinoy farmer Severino Payumo of Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija won the grand prize in the Search for Hybrid Rice Highest Yielder sponsored by the Office of of the Provincial Agriculturist of Nueva [...]
Bio-Pollutants in Freshwater Ecosystem
Like the marine ecosystem, the freshwater bodies have its share of pollutions coming in many forms. One latest study points to the presence of bio-pollutants in freshwater bodies, e.g. lakes, rivers, swamps, etc. Lately, a researcher from the College of Veterinary Medicine at UP Los Banos in her paper titled “Estrogenic Disruption in Male Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus) Introduced to the East and west Sites of Laguna de Bay” reported the presence of high levels of a natural [...]
Oil Spill: An Ecosystem Concern
Reports on oil spill pose a major concern among Biologists, Ecologists, and plain Conservationists. This writer showed grave concern when a massive oil spill took place in Panay Island following the sinking of an oil tanker carrying tons of bunker oil, a couple of years ago. Bothered by the incident he expounded in his articles published in national broadsheets and S & T Journals (e.g. DOST S & T Post), radio and TV interviews, and on occasions that he was invited as resource person/speaker [...]
BFAR Bulletin on shellfish consumption includes Eastern Visayas
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), acting on the findings from the Department of Health (DOH), has issued Shellfish Bulletin No. 15 recently. The Bulletin reports on the DOH studies on water samples from four (4) Bays (1 in Visayas- Matarinao, Samar; 2 in Mindanao – Dumanquillas, Zamboanga del Sur and Misamis Occidental; and, 1 in Luzon – Masinloc, Zambales), contaminated with ‘red tide’toxins. As this writer had emphasized in previous articles, the incidence of [...]
Rejoinder to C.A.S. 42-Day PHL Expedition Part II – Encouraging Broader Participation of Filipinos in S & T Expedition and Keeping Duplicate Specimens in the PHL
It has been the standing policy of the Philippine Government to encourage maximum and/or equitable participation of its citizens in collaborative business, scientific, education and other endeavors with foreign governments, NGOs, etc. However, per reliable sources, the recent scientific endeavor of the California Academy of Science, USA, that led to the discovery of 300 plus new species of predominantly animal organisms, involved only a ‘handful’ of Filipinos as counterpart experts. As [...]
Rejoinder to C.A.S. 42 – Day PHL expedition Part I – Queries on Foreign-led Expeditions
Very recently, a scientific expedition spearheaded by the California Academy of Science, USA, that lasted for 42 days gathered fantastic data, highlighted by the “discovery of about 300 new (animal) species in Luzon alone.” The CAS initiated and funded Philippine expedition invited only few Filipino scientists and environment enthusiasts who focused on the exploration/collection largely of marine living animal specimens. The not-so well publicized CAS expedition posed a couple of [...]
Students volunteerism: Plant trees, Save Planet Earth! Part I – For A Productive Summer Break
Summertime marks the end of the school calendar year for young pupils, students and teachers. To them it means good-bye books, notebooks, no examinations and lessons to prepare and no school assignments, projects, and homeworks to submit. Summer break in the Philippines is rather long to be devoted to purely relaxing and less productive activities, etc., just to while away 2-3 months vacation. This writer has been witness to some students return home and help their parents in farm [...]
Southern Leyte’s Mangrove Program: An effort to mitigate climate change and provide livelihood
The Province of Southern Leyte should be congratulated for having its LGUs and an NGO have pooled their resources to help mitigate and adapt measures against the effects of Climate Change as well as provide livelihood to the fisherfolks. Likewise, worthy of recognition is the GTZ or the German Organization for Technical Cooperation (recently renamed Deutsche Gessellschaft for internationale Zusammenarbeit or GIZ). Worthy of mention in this column is the initiative of the SLMGP or Southern [...]
Philippines: A Biotechnology Mega-Country? Part II – GM Global Crops Production Soars
With more countries openly accepting genetically modified (GM) crops through the adoption of innovative biotechnology procedures, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Application (ISAAA), released its 2009 and 2010 figures on the production and global market values of 12 GM crops. In 2009, the market value was $10.6 billion and in 2010 soared to $11 billion to boast the coffers of 20-25 (-29) countries members of the so-called “Biotechnology Mega- Countries [...]
Philippines: A Biotechnology Mega-Country?
If we go by the definition of a what a “mega-country’ by the ISAAA or the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, then indeed, the Philippines easily qualifies among the elite countries engaged in biotechnology. The ISAAA simply classifies countries that grow genetically modified (GM) crops in more than 50,000 hectares to become members of the biotechnology mega-country circle.. In a paper presented recently by Dr. Clive James, ISAAA founder and current [...]
Loading ...
