The Philippines Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry has become the latest regulatory body to approve the use of genetically engineered (GE) “Golden Rice” for direct use as food or feed, as well as for processing.1 The so-called FFP approval is being heralded as a solution to rising rates of vitamin A deficiency in the country, as the rice is engineered to produce beta-carotene. However, serious questions remain about the GE rice’s safety, as well as its ability to actually increase vitamin A levels in those who are deficient. Despite these key outstanding questions, the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand have also given Golden Rice a green light, which suggests it could appear on your dinner plate soon. Philippines Says Golden Rice Is SafeAfter conducting a biosafety assessment, the Philippines Department of Agriculture announced that Golden Rice was as safe as conventional rice, granting it FFP approval. In a news release, Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) executive director John de Leon stated, “With this FFP approval, we bring forward a very accessible solution to our country’s problem on vitamin A deficiency that’s affecting many of our preschool children and pregnant women.”2 Before the rice will be made available to the public, approval for commercial propagation will still be required. However, PhilRice has already partnered with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the current makers of Golden Rice, to move forward with taste tests of the GE rice. According to IRRI:3
It’s a major step forward for the GE rice, as it’s the first approval in a country where rice is a staple food, and vitamin A deficiency is also a significant problem. In the Philippines, per capita white rice consumption is about 315 grams (0.69 pounds) daily, which is fifteenfold higher than in the U.S.4 Providing a beta-carotene rich source of rice indeed sounds like a lifesaving solution, but the GE rice has repeatedly failed to deliver. FDA Refuses to Give Golden Rice a Nutrient Content ClaimGolden Rice has been making headlines for two decades as a solution to vitamin A deficiency, a condition that affects 250 million preschool-aged children worldwide.5 As the leading cause of preventable blindness in children, it’s estimated that up to 500,000 children become blind each year due to vitamin A deficiency, and half of them die within a year of losing their sight, according to the World Health Organization.6 Golden Rice has already gone through multiple changes before its latest version — GR2E — received regulatory approval for use in food. The first Golden Rice, GR1, failed, as it contained too little beta-carotene to even make a dent in vitamin A deficiency.7 The next version, GR2, was developed by biotech giant Syngenta, and the latest version, GR2E, contains three added genes. “Two specify enzymes in the β-carotene biosynthesis pathway, and are taken from bacteria and maize,” Independent Science News reported. “The third specifies a (nonantibiotic) selectable marker protein used in the modification process.”8 The FDA approved Golden Rice, using data supplied by IRRI, but noted that its beta-carotene content is too low to warrant a nutrient content claim. Health Canada similarly wrote that even if all rice and rice products in the country were replaced with Golden Rice, it would result in only a very small (0.8% to 8%) increase in beta-carotene intake daily.9 IRRI is already countering the finding, essentially stating that it will work better in the Philippines simply because the average Filipino consumes much more rice than the average American:10
Will Eating Golden Rice Alleviate Vitamin A Deficiency?Controversy has surrounded Golden Rice since its creation, in part because it’s uncertain whether widespread planting of this GMO will benefit those who are vitamin A deficient. IIRI’s Russell Reinke, a rice breeder, stated that eating about 1 cup of Golden Rice daily would supply 50% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A for an adult.11 This was in an article published by the Genetic Literacy Project, a well-known front group for the GMO industry, which also states:12
There is concern, however, that the beta-carotene in Golden Rice may degrade with storage. One study revealed that after three weeks of storage Golden Rice retained only 60% of its beta-carotene and this dropped to 13% after 10 weeks.13,14 Further, there are concerns that even the GR2E rice may contain only negligible quantities of beta-carotene. The FDA reported that the rice contained only 0.50 to 2.35 ug/g of beta-carotene compared to, say, the 111 ug/g found in spinach, although sometimes higher levels have been reported.15 In cases where higher levels were reported, this was often the result of misleading or skewed statistics, such as:16
“In other words,” Independent Science News reported, “the low levels communicated to FDA seem to be the most accurate and realistic.”17 Golden Rice Approval ‘Irresponsible and Completely Misguided’The conversion of beta-carotene to vitamin A is also questionable. A 2009 study found Golden Rice is an effective source of vitamin A because it “is effectively converted to vitamin A” in healthy adult volunteers18 — but those who could theoretically be helped by the additional beta-carotene in Golden Rice are, for the most part, not healthy adults, nor would they have regular access to key nutrients needed to absorb vitamin A, like fat. Even the study that concluded Golden Rice is an effective source of vitamin A fed the rice to healthy adults along with 10 grams of butter,19 something that may not occur in a real-life setting. There are fundamental questions that need to be asked, too, such as whether the answer to malnutrition lies in replacing one micronutrient at a time, instead of helping people to grow nutritionally balanced, healthy foods. Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines is among the NGOs that blasted the Bureau of Plant industry’s (BPI) approval, calling on the government to “immediately reverse the faulty decision, which the environment group maintains is based on insufficient data.” They said the approval processed did not take into account socio-economic impacts to farmers and indigenous peoples, or the rice’s effects on local culture, adding:20
WHO Promotes Gardens, Breastfeeding for Vitamin A DeficiencyFighting back against vitamin A deficiency isn’t a matter of introducing GE rice into the environment but, rather, targeting the lack of healthy food spurring the deficiency in the first place. Toward this end, WHO has already implemented a campaign featuring a variety of non-GMO methods for combating vitamin A deficiency, such as:21
High-dose vitamin A supplementation has also yielded improvements, reducing mortality by 23% overall and by up to 50% for those with measles.22 Biotech giants like Syngenta are going to continue pushing for Golden Rice to gain approval worldwide, while GE rice varieties that contain additional iron and zinc, or have a low glycemic index, have also been developed. Some have said that a “Green Gene” revolution — one that looks at GMOs as the solution to feeding the world — is inevitable, but GMOs often create more problems than they solve. “The last Green Revolution produced more food,” a Bulletin of the World Health Organization, stated, “but much of it didn’t reach the people who most needed it.”23 What’s more, in a survey of childhood nutrition in 63 developing countries, improving the level of women’s education was the most important factor related to better child nutrition. “According to these figures, if improving rice productivity affected food availability it would contribute to 26% of the causes of improvement in child nutrition, whereas improving the status and education of women would more than double that effect,” the Bulletin noted.24 from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/12/31/gmo-rice.aspx
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