{"id":19573,"date":"2020-02-07T01:44:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T01:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=19573"},"modified":"2020-02-09T12:21:38","modified_gmt":"2020-02-09T12:21:38","slug":"the-philippines-has-rated-golden-rice-safe-but-farmers-might-not-plant-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/the-philippines-has-rated-golden-rice-safe-but-farmers-might-not-plant-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Philippines has rated ‘Golden Rice’ safe, but farmers might not plant it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Glenn Davis Stone<\/a>, Washington University in St Louis<\/a><\/em> and Dominic Glover<\/a>, Institute of Development Studies<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cGolden Rice<\/a>\u201d is probably the world\u2019s most hotly debated genetically modified organism (GMO). It was intended to be a beta carotene-enriched crop to reduce Vitamin A deficiency, a health problem in very poor areas. But it has never been offered to farmers for planting.<\/p>\n

Why not? Because Golden Rice has an activist problem, according to its proponents. They insist that the rice would have prevented millions of child deaths by now had it not been blocked by anti-science activists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In particular, they single out Greenpeace<\/a>, which has campaigned against approval<\/a> of Golden Rice as part of its broader opposition to GMOs. Greenpeace responds that its actions are not what has kept Golden Rice from reaching the market<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We study developing-world agriculture<\/a>, including use of genetically modified crops<\/a>, and are conducting ongoing research on Golden Rice, originally funded by the Templeton Foundation<\/a>. We advocate keeping an open mind<\/a> about Golden Rice, which may eventually have some nutritional potential in limited cases. But our view, based on numerous scientific studies, is that the rice is still beset by problems that have little to do with activists.<\/p>\n

Filling a nutritional gap?<\/h2>\n

Vitamin A is one of many nutrients lacking in the diets of the world\u2019s poorest children. Vitamin A deficiency, or VAD, can cause blindness and even premature death<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The vitamin comes directly from animal products and indirectly from beta carotene<\/a> in plants, which the human body can convert to Vitamin A. Plant scientist Ingo Potrykus<\/a>, who co-developed Golden Rice, has claimed that \u201cVAD often occurs where rice is the major staple food<\/a>.\u201d White rice grains contain no beta carotene.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not rice\u2019s job to provide vitamins. Most diets across Asia and Africa consist of a carbohydrate core such as rice or maize, which provides calories and bulk, and a sauce, stew or soup for flavor and nutrients.<\/p>\n

Since rice is a poor source of vitamins and minerals<\/a>, any child eating a rice-only diet will be sick. Genetically modifying rice to contain beta carotene is at best a band-aid for extreme cases of VAD, not a corrective for a widespread problem.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Estimated prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in children aged 6 to 59 months by country in 2013.<\/span>
\nStevens et al, 2015<\/a>, CC BY<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Decades of development<\/h2>\n

Potrykus and colleagues devised a strategy for producing Golden Rice in 1992, and announced in 2000 that they had developed an experimental prototype<\/a>. Potrykus appeared on the cover of Time magazine<\/a> with his rice, which the cover proclaimed \u201ccould save a million kids a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The biologists were on to something, but the prototype was nowhere near ready for farmers or consumers<\/a>. The beta carotene concentration was far too low, and researchers did not know if the plants would grow well. The prototype was also a rice variety that farmers in VAD areas would not grow.<\/p>\n

In 2002 Golden Rice research moved to the International Rice Research Institute<\/a> (IRRI) in the Philippines to be developed for Filipino farmers. Meanwhile scientists at the global agricultural company Syngenta, which had acquired commercial rights to the rice<\/a>, began to develop a new package of genes to improve the beta carotene levels. By 2005 they unveiled Golden Rice 2, which accomplished this.<\/p>\n

Next, researchers inserted these GR2 genes into multiple plants, with the goal of introducing them without disrupting other genes. Each insertion is called an \u201cevent.\u201d IRRI breeders took the most promising event and began breeding the trait into two trusty lowland rice varieties.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Packets of different rice breeds stored in a refrigerated room at the International Rice Research Institute Rice Germplasm Bank, Laguna, Philippines, Nov. 27, 2003.<\/span>
\nJoel Nito\/AFP via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But there was a problem. Field trials showed that the introduced genes had indeed disrupted other genes and lowered the rice\u2019s productivity<\/a>, so breeders turned to a different event. By 2017 field trials showed that this rice grew adequately<\/a>. The rice was submitted to the Philippine Bureau of Plant Industry, which designated it as safe<\/a> in December 2019.<\/p>\n

However, Golden Rice still has to be approved for commercial sale and still needs a company to grow marketable quantities of seed. Proponents\u2019 claim that the rice would be given free to farmers<\/a> is false: No one has offered to produce and distribute the rice seed for nothing. And even if someone were to grow marketable quantities of seed for sale, two crucial problems remain.<\/p>\n

Unanswered questions<\/h2>\n

First, the claim that Golden Rice will remedy Vitamin A deficiency remains unproven. As IRRI scientists themselves stressed in 2013<\/a>, \u201cIt has not yet been determined whether daily consumption of Golden Rice does improve the vitamin A status of people who are vitamin A deficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vitamin A is fat-soluble, and children with VAD rarely have fats in their diet. Moreover, they usually suffer from gut parasites and infections that make it harder to convert beta carotene to vitamin A<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A 2012 study, which has been cited over 70 times \u2013 despite being retracted in 2015<\/a> for breaching research ethics \u2013 seemed to show that Golden Rice would raise children\u2019s vitamin A levels<\/a>. But children in the study were fed balanced meals that included fats, thus demonstrating only that Golden Rice worked in children who did not need it.<\/p>\n

Even the latest analysis of Golden Rice\u2019s safety points out that research has yet to show that it will mitigate VAD<\/a>. And by the time Golden Rice gets to undernourished children, its beta carotene level may be very low, since the compound deteriorates fairly quickly<\/a>.<\/p>\n