‘A catastrophe’: Greenpeace blocks planting of ‘lifesaving’ Golden Rice ( www.theguardian.com )

Scientists have warned that a court decision to block the growing of the genetically modified (GM) crop Golden Rice in the Philippines could have catastrophic consequences. Tens of thousands of children could die in the wake of the ruling, they argue.

The Philippines had become the first country – in 2021 – to approve the commercial cultivation of Golden Rice, which was developed to combat vitamin A deficiency, a major cause of disability and death among children in many parts of the world.

But campaigns by Greenpeace and local farmers last month persuaded the country’s court of appeal to overturn that approval and to revoke this. The groups had argued that Golden Rice had not been shown to be safe and the claim was backed by the court, a decision that was hailed as “a monumental win” by Greenpeace.

Many scientists, however, say there is no evidence that Golden Rice is in any way dangerous. More to the point, they argue that it is a lifesaver.

Bananigans ,

My friend got her doctorate engineering rice to grow in high salinity areas. The goal was to aid farmers near brackish water and without access to good farmland. Greenpeace would definitely not like that.

Silverseren ,

They've been doing that for two decades. Golden rice could have saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives by now. Especially the later versions we're on now. Hopefully it doesn't violate the self-promotion rules for me to link an article I wrote a long, long time ago on Golden Rice 3.0 and its improved benefits.

I haven't kept up with the project since, I wouldn't be surprised if we're on 4.0 or beyond by now, the scientists involved have been working tirelessly for years to make the rice even better and more beneficial for the people who need it.

And anti-science idiots like Greenpeace have been fighting them every step of the way.

gandalf_der_12te ,
@gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Basically, the issue is that this Golden Rice is a foreign species in Philippines. That comes with a lot of complications.

Most importantly, local farmers don't have the knowledge how to deal with this new type of rice. They are worried that their native species are being replaced and could go extinct, which would be difficult to revert. It would lead to yet another platform lock-in.

treadful ,
@treadful@lemmy.zip avatar

It's important to save and continue to grow heirloom species, sure. But almost no cultivated species are native to where they're grown.

Patent bullshit aside.

Worx ,

It's interesting about native species. Think about apple trees in the UK. They grow very well here, the climate is suited perfectly, they don't seem to be invasive (talking as a layperson here). Yet they were introduced about 2000 years ago by the Romans. Does that mean they're old enough to now count as native? I mean, if you go back far enough, everything came from somewhere else. Unless you're looking at a deep-sea vent where life very first evolved, then it has spread from somewhere else.

Maybe if I was a botanist or ecologist, I would know the actual answer. But I'm just a person who loves thinking about things in a philosophical way, without necessarily wanting to research in-depth answers for every little puzzle

gandalf_der_12te ,
@gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Rice is a well-understood plant with well-understood properties. One of these properties is that it just doesn't have many vitamins. If you want vitamins, you have to get another plant as a side-dish.

What these mad scientists propose is to change the very nature of rice to make it something that it is not, to solve a problem (Vitamin A deficiency) that could be approached with much less severe measures (like, growing carrots as a side-dish).

Agriculture is like medicine: You should always attempt to use the approach that is least invasive and has the smallest possible impact, while still solving the problem. This way, you minimize complications and reduce risks.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

If just grow carrots lol was adequate, tell me again why people are deficient in the nutrients golden rice has over baseline rice, please.

BottleOfAlkahest ,

I think you may need to consider the cost and shelf life difference here. Suggesting "what if they just ate a more expensive vegetable more" seems like a pretty callous take.

I know they grow carrots in the phillipines but they definitely aren't native to there either.

variants ,

Like bill nye said, gmo's are just a tool in your tool box to solve the answer and they are a really useful tool for the future as things get harder for us

NoneOfUrBusiness ,

If they could get these side-dishes they wouldn't be dying or going blind what are you even talking about? Your response to poor people not having money is "lol just make more money"?

njm1314 ,

The author didn't address it in the least, which is troubling, but how exactly did they prove to the court that the rice hadn't been shown to be safe? They seem to have made a convincing argument and I'd rather like to know what it was. Seems like an important part of the story to me.

xmunk ,

This is especially rational to question when looking at the GMO's previous healthclaims like the safety of Roundup - Monsanto has had no qualms about lying to the public in the past.

gandalf_der_12te ,
@gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Exactly. And those who suffer in the end is always the people, never the big corps. Never trust big corps to do the right thing in agriculture. They'll fuck you over and leave the environment destroyed. Build local species.

HopeOfTheGunblade ,
@HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social avatar

"Big corps" aren't involved here. It's a philanthropy project, and from what I can find it's not legally encumbered in any way like Monsanto stuff is. This is entirely Greenpeace doing something that gets headlines, instead of something actually good. Don't forget that that organization, too, has motives, first among which is going to be survival and advancement of the organization.

Silverseren ,

Monsanto has nothing to do with this topic. You're just fearmongering.

xmunk ,

My trust has been eroded by this industry as a whole - I'm not saying their shit is dangerous but I won't accept their claims on blind faith.

It's perfectly reasonable to demand a study in the name of public health.

Silverseren ,

They have been working on and testing this golden rice since 2000, with tons of studies done on its biochemistry, including from people eating it. In fact, several countries have already been using the rice for years What else are the scientists supposed to do to appear Greenpeace's purposefully vague demands?

JohnnyCanuck ,
@JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca avatar

According to the Greenpeace website:

But behind the hype, GE ‘Golden’ rice is environmentally irresponsible, poses risks to human health and could compromise food, nutrition and financial security.

My take from this: It may be that they targeted more than the safety, but also the possibility of gene flow (to other rice crops including wild rice), possible effects on biodiversity, and the ever-present patent issues that come up with GMO's.

Scanning down the page though, they don't specifically say why it poses risks to human health other than some hand-wavey stuff about how it would make people rely on rice instead of providing other sources of vitamin A in their diets.

They also brought up that at least one experiment with the rice on children in China wasn't done ethically, and also that this could be imposed against people's religious beliefs.

It mentions the cross-contamination gene flow stuff, but I thought because rice was self pollinating that that wasnt as big an issue with GM rice. (I'm not an expert by any means.)

Their general argument seems to be "new way bad, old way good" without any scientic evidence. They didn't have to convince scientists though.

Silverseren ,

If gene flow from golden rice managed to successfully hybridize the four gene complex providing the iron, zinc, and beta-carotene nutrients into other rice crops, that would be incredible. It's so unlikely to happen and the scientists involved have to work so incredibly hard to get it to happen, because it would be a tremendous good for the world if it did.

We could only hope that such gene flow would occur naturally from the golden rice.

gandalf_der_12te ,
@gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

I'd like to point out that Greenpeace or the local population doesn't have to prove that GM rice is bad. It's the other way around:

Big corps have to prove that GM rice is good and has no adversarial long-term effects, which is impossible to prove.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • news@lemmy.world
  • test
  • worldmews
  • mews
  • All magazines
    •