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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Golden Rice –A Revolution Still Waiting to Happen

Golden Rice –A Revolution Still Waiting to Happen

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published Published on Feb 13, 2014   modified Modified on Feb 13, 2014
-Oryza.com


"Golden Rice will certainly be accepted one day. We are only trying to put pressure so it will be accepted earlier than later. Each second of the day a child dies unnecessarily." These are the words of Dr. Patrick Moore, Canadian ecologist and former director of Greenpeace, who is leading a campaign to make Golden Rice acceptable in the EU and across the world.

What's surprising about Dr. Moore's words are that these come almost fourteen years after Swiss scientists Dr. Ingo Potrykus and Dr. Peter Beyer's Eureka moment when they created a variety of rice containing beta-carotene, an invention that has the potential to greatly reduce Vitamin A deficiency in some of the poorest countries of the world.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 250 million pre-school children suffer from a vitamin A deficiency. "About 2 million die each year from this deficiency. It is therefore more deadly than either malaria or HIV/AIDS," says the Allow Golden Rice Now! (www.allowgoldenricenow.org) project. The deficiency results in 250,000 and 500,000 irreversible cases of blindness annually, mainly in children, half of whom die within a year of becoming blind. Most of these people live in urban slums where poverty restricts their diet to a daily ration of rice.

This can change with the introduction of Golden rice, says Dr. Adrian C Dubock, Executive Secretary, Golden Rice Humanitarian Board and Project Manager Golden Rice (www.goldenrice.org). According to Dr. Dubock, vitamin A is essential for a fully functional human immune system, for eyesight, and other requirements. In children beta-carotene in Golden rice is converted to vitamin A the same as from beta-carotene in vitamin pills. About two beta-carotene molecules make one molecule of vitamin A, which means that around 40 grams per day of a dry Golden Rice variety can prevent death or blindness.

There is a growing interest among governments in countries such as the Philippines, China, Bangladesh, Nigeria and India to allow trials and grow Golden Rice. Leading scientists across the world support trials and say that questions can't be answered without tests. However, trials of Golden rice face resistance across the world due to opposition from groups led by Greenpeace. Opponents have several concerns which we asked Dr. Patrick Moore.

Q. Golden rice is unnatural and man-made, so it is like plastic that will harm my intestine and other parts.

Dr. Patrick Moore: Golden Rice is as natural as any rice, all of which is made by human breeding of rice. In fact plastic will not harm your intestine if it is ground finely.

(The Allow Golden Rice Now! project says, "Genetic engineering (or genetic modification, often called GM, the products being genetically modified organisms, or GMOs) is an entirely organic procedure. In this sense it resembles conventional breeding (sexual reproduction) as it does not require chemicals or radiation to produce changes in the DNA of the product. Genetic modification simply involves moving a small piece of organic DNA from one plant or animal to another. It is very precise in that the DNA that is moved is known to be responsible for expressing the desired trait in the species being modified...Conventional breeding is a slow and imprecise process. The vast majority of mutations are useless, detrimental, or even fatal. But on occasion a mutation occurs that improves some aspect of the plant's growth, productivity, resistance to disease, or other factors. It is very much a scattergun approach.")

Q. Golden rice is unsafe because not enough tests have been carried out on humans.

Dr. Patrick Moore: Tests have been carried out on adults in the U.S. and on children in China. Both proved the beta carotene [in Golden rice] will be converted to vitamin-A in the body [significantly].

Q. Golden rice is being promoted by some seed companies which want to control global food security and have a monopoly in seeds.

Dr. Patrick Moore: Golden Rice has no corporate control, it is a humanitarian project. No company has a monopoly in seeds. Any farmer can start a seed company, that is how seed companies begin. It is ridiculous to think that a seed company can get control of global food production by selling seeds to farmers who want the seeds.

(The Allow Golden Rice Now! project says, "In the name of ‘free choice,' activists have worked to deny farmers the choice by campaigning to make GM illegal. They were particularly successful with this approach in Europe, where incidences of mad-cow disease and chemical contamination have sensitized the public to food scares. European agriculture is shaped more by social policy than by economic necessity. Farmers are paid not to grow food, as there is a regional surplus. Those who do grow food receive large subsidies. So, European farmers do not have much incentive to improve their yields or profits.")

Q. Golden rice will discourage food diversification because people eating Golden rice will think it is a complete food.

Dr. Patrick Moore: Golden Rice is a more complete food than normal rice. If these people with vitamin A deficiency could afford a balanced diet they would get it, but they only eat rice each day. With Golden Rice their nutrition will be better and they will not so easily go blind or die.

Q. Golden rice will hurt rice exports because GM foods are banned in several countries including the EU, China, etc. and such countries usually don't buy any rice (GM or traditional) from countries that grow Golden rice for fear of contamination.

Dr. Patrick Moore: Rice is not a major export crop. Most rice is eaten in the country where it is grown. So this will not be a problem. The idea of "contamination" is stupid because the only possible outcome would be more rice plants with beta carotene therefore better health.

Q. Golden rice is very expensive and takes a long time to cook.

Dr. Patrick Moore: Golden rice will be the same price as normal rice. It will take the same time to cook (where did you get that idea which is so goofy?)

Q. Golden rice tastes very turmeric-like.

Dr. Patrick Moore: Not true, it tastes like rice.

History proves that fears and orthodoxy have not made the world better, science has. The Golden Rice case also seems to reiterate this.


Oryza.com, 11 February, 2014, http://oryza.com/op-ed/golden-rice-%E2%80%93-revolution-still-waiting-happen


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