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THIRD WORLD NETWORK BIOSAFETY
INFORMATION SERVICE 25 March 2005
RE: GOLDEN RICE: ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD When "Golden Rice" was first presented in 2000, it was done so with much hype. Its proponents claim that the rice which is genetically engineered to produce pro-Vitamin A (beta-carotene) will save millions of children from blindness. In 3 new reports just released, Greenpeace International highlights the failure of "Golden Rice" and the successful efforts to combat Vitamin A deficiency that have no need for genetically engineered rice. The reports reiterate that "Golden Rice" won't overcome malnutrition but instead draws funding and attention away from the real solutions to combat the very real problem of vitamin A deficiency. An analysis revealed that people would need to consume 12 times more rice than normal to satisfy the minimum daily adult requirements of Vitamin A. Five years on, the promoters of Golden Rice will shortly be presenting new research, claiming that new versions will have ten times the content of beta-carotene as the first generation of this GE rice. But critics point out that there are better answers to the problem of Vitamin A deficiency -- solutions that are cheaper, more effective, more sustainable for the environment, and free of risk. According to Greenpeace, since Golden Rice was presented in 2000, solutions such as increased food diversity, vitamin supplements and home gardening have proven to be working solutions for Vitamin A deficiency. While Vitamin A deficiency is still a serious problem in countries such as Bangladesh, these solutions helped to virtually eliminate Vitamin-A related blindness in children. There are also traditional rice varieties that could combat Vitamin A deficiency. At the same time, food safety remains unknown but the environmental risk is clear. Golden Rice could breed with wild and weedy relatives to contaminate wild rice forever. The Greenpeace International report concludes that "When the risk is high, the potential consequences devastating, and the benefits unclear, precaution is called for". For more details about "Golden Rice", you may want to read the following just released reports by Greenpeace: All that Glitters is not gold:
False hope for Golden Rice Vitamin A Solutions On Rice, Biodiversity, and
Nutrients With best wishes,
REF: Doc.TWN/Biosafety/2005/B Golden Rice: All glitter, no
gold NETHERLANDS/Amsterdam - It
was a great sales pitch: adopt this genetically engineered rice, and it'll
save millions of children from blindness! It will end Vitamin A deficiency.
They called it "Golden Rice." But if you queried their claims,
or had concerns about possible genetic contamination of a global staple
food, you were an environmental extremist who cared more about trees than
children. It was, and is, "Golden Rice" is a technical failure. It won't overcome malnutrition. Worse, it is drawing funding and attention away from the real solutions to combat the very real problem of vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A is essential to humans. It has several functions in the human body and is important for eyesight. Vitamin A deficiency can lead to blindness and death, and is a severe problem for many countries in the global south.
Golden Rice was presented in 2000 as a rice variety that was genetically engineered in a laboratory to produce pro-vitamin A (beta-carotene). The media hype was more robust than the science, however, and our analysis revealed that people would need to consume 12 times more rice than normal to satisfy the minimum daily adult requirements of Vitamin A. Subsequent studies have questioned the very notion that Golden Rice would be effective in addressing Vitamin A deficiency. "Industry tries to sell Golden Rice as a magic solution. Their strategy is misleading the public, they are oversimplifying the actual problems in combating vitamin A deficiency and try to turn down other, more effective solutions," says Christoph Then, Greenpeace International GE campaigner. "The Golden Rice project simply aims to help industry to gain support for their controversial GE-food in markets such as India and Europe". Close reading of the Golden Rice publications reveals that technical problems were glossed over. The initial reports did not fully, nor accurately, describe the type of pro-vitamin A present in Golden Rice. Other factors limiting the effectiveness of Golden Rice were ignored. The human food safety of GE rice is unknown. However, the environmental risk of GE rice is clear. Golden Rice could breed with wild and weedy relatives to contaminate wild rice forever. If there were any problems the clock could not be turned back. When the risk is high, the potential consequences devastating, and the benefits unclear, precaution is called for. Real solutions Since Golden Rice was presented in 2000, solutions such as increased food diversity, vitamin supplements and home gardening have proven to be working solutions for Vitamin A deficiency. While Vitamin A deficiency is still a serious problem in countries such as Bangladesh, these solutions helped to virtually eliminate Vitamin-A related blindness in children. There are also traditional rice varieties that could combat Vitamin A deficiency. "GE rice could, if introduced on a large scale, exacerbate malnutrition and undermine food security because it encourages a diet based on a single industrial staple food rather than upon the reintroduction of the many vitamin-rich food plants with high nutritional value that are cheap and already available." says Professor Klaus Becker, from University of Hohenheim, Germany. The promoters of Golden Rice will shortly be presenting new research, claiming that new versions will have ten times the content of beta- carotene as the first generation. But despite five years of propaganda about potential benefits, Golden Rice has failed to deliver real results. There are better answers to the problem of Vitamin A deficiency -- solutions that are cheaper, more effective, more sustainable for the environment, and free of risk to one of the world's most important foods. The only problem for the GE industry is that the only profit in those solutions is for the poor.
Read in depth about the failures of Golden Rice in these three reports: All that Glitters is not gold:
False hope for Golden Rice Vitamin A Solutions On Rice, Biodiversity, and
Nutrients
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