Many GMO opponents are targeting the development of Golden Rice–a variation on the Asian staple enhanced with Vitamin A that most health experts say could significantly improve the health of many nutrition poor people in the developing world.
In fact, Greenpeace last week renewed its long running offensive against its introduction, claiming it is a Trojan horse to soften the public opposition to GMOs that Greenpeace itself has helped create.
Those promoting ‘Golden’ rice in the UK and elsewhere appear to be doing so more as means of promoting the wider GM agenda–and attacking opponents of the ‘GM project’ –than as serious means of solving problems in the global south.
That echoed comments it posted on its website earlier this year.
‘Golden’ rice is far from being a sustainable solution to vitamin deficiency – it encourages a diet based solely on rice. In Greenpeace’s opinion, the tens of millions of dollars invested in the development and promotion of GM ‘Golden’ rice would have been better spent in supporting solutions that work.
Ecologically farmed home and community gardens can contribute to healthy and varied diets by directly empowering people to produce their own nutritious food. This is the real long-lasting solution Vitamin A Deficiency VAD) affected communities need.
As the environmentalist and journalist Mark Lynas noted in a speech last week at the International Rice Congress 2014, Bangkok, most scientists and agricultural experts sharply challenge Greenpeace’s perspective. Greenpeace has been actively campaigning against genetically modified vitamin enhanced crops for years, and even went so far as to help endorse a mob attack on test plots in the Philippines.
Genetic engineering, Lynas maintains, is critical to addressing the world’s burgeoning population, which could exceed million by 2050.
It has been estimated that for every 1 billion people added to the world’s population, 100 million more tonnes of paddy rice need to be produced annually – using less land, water, nitrogen and energy, and resulting in less greenhouse gas emissions, of which rice is a currently a major source.
Crop genetics comes into every aspect of this picture. Changing the biology of rice plants offers the chance to combat major and emerging diseases, to tackle pests with fewer and less toxic pesticides, to increase water- and nitrogen-use efficiency and to increase overall productivity to feed more people on less land.
Familiar tools include conventional cross-breeding and hybridisation, marker-assisted selection and mutagenesis. However, in order to be able to access the widest-possible pool of germplasm it will be essential for rice breeders to be able to use transgenic techniques as well as conventional breeding.
And yet the use of these molecular biotechnology techniques, which are improving all the time in accuracy, variety and usability, remains needlessly controversial.
In its attack on Golden Rice issued last week, Greenpeace maintained that other genetic techniques, such as marker assisted genetics, are superior to GM–a view rejected as simplistic and political by scientists. “This is clearly untrue for Golden Rice, which could not have been created any other way,” Lynas wrote in the Bangkok Post. “None of these potentially life-saving projects could go ahead if GMOs are banned, as many activists seek.”
Three billion people, many of them extremely poor and under nourished, eat rice every day–yet activist groups, led by Greenpeace, are denying one important tool that could help address this tragedy–and without any scientific basis.
I hope this is resolved soon. I think this year it was calculated 1.5 million human life years were lost in India since 2002 due to the delay of Golden Rice. This doesn’t even take into consideration the number of Malnutrition related injury such as blindness.
If you are refering to this study then it does take into account blindness. The injuries are expected to decreases lifespan in that region. That is how they reached that figure. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=6&fid=9136417&jid=EDE&volumeId=-1&issueId=-1&aid=9136416&bodyId=&membershipNumber=&societyETOCSession=&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S1355770X1300065X
I believe that is the paper, thank you for correcting my comment :)
These morons also blather about overpopulation while overlooking the obvious fact that when infant and child mortality rates go down, birth rates go down. Saving the lives of children IS saving the environment.
That is basically true over the past 40 years or so. It is not the sole cause, but it is significant. Just look at how the birth rate in China plummeted to barely sustainable in just 30 years.
I’m guessing that has to do with the one child only law
“Greenpeace maintained that other genetic techniques, such as marker assisted genetics (MAS), are superior to GM–a view rejected as simplistic and political by scientists”
These guys are stupid? There are no natural germplasm with even the smallest content of beta-carotene in the rice endosperm. For this reason traditional breeding techniques (like MAS) are not useful, and it was the same reason why Potrykus and Beyer used genetic engineering in golden rice (initially inserting the gene for phytoene synthase from daffodil and carotene desaturase from Erwinia uredovora).
Actually, more insidiously, I’d say no:
I think they are smart enough understand that. But callously expect their donors to be that stupid. In fact, I’m sure they are counting on it.
why are you so unhappy mary
They switched out the daffodil gene with a corn gene and the level of Beta carotene went way up GRII.
Yes, I know, that´s why I said “initially”. In the publication of 2004, it appears that maize phytoene synthase (psy) produced 26 times more carotenoids than daffodil psy.
I dont think most organic food consumers realize their purchases are going toward this agenda. It would be nice if they did know.
I don’t know what is the best way for the race of this world.
What I do know is that we are hypocrites. If we don’t want GMOt tell us why and saying that is hasn’t been proved to be safe is a valid reason but there are many other products on the market that has not been proven to be safe or detrimental to us. I think the meat industry can relate with their steroids and other things the induce. Hey is that like putting chemical fertilizer on your plants and enhanced their growth. And I think the organic farmers can relate to this.
My concern with the whole situation is people lie, companies lie all to enhance the bottom line which is the goal. Now if to solve world hunger was the goal and give away the technology and seeds and teach the people of the world how to raise their crops no matter where you live, then maybe. We all live longer now, god willing, and it is to mostly technology I guess and I am sure we didn’t protest penicillin and other methods to allow for humans to live longer.
So I sit on the fence as we allow cigarettes, alcohol, coal burning plants, nuclear power plants, rape of our oceans, outrageous taxes, etc. etc. etc. to continue. I know I brought other subjects into this discussion but as I said at the beginning we are hypocrites and we all come out to take a bite.
Good luck people.
It is my understanding that the companies holding patent rights on gene elements used for Golden Rice are allowing the free use of their technology for Golden Rice production. So, as far as I understand, companies are not making a penny from Golden Rice.
There are only a very few organizations on this earth I truly detest – ISIS, Greenpeace… and… hmm…Yeah, that.
Da means “yes” in eastern European countries