'Golden' Rice Is Tarnished

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http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16478

 

'Golden' Rice Is Tarnished

 

Anuradha Mittal, AlterNet

July 23, 2003

The agricultural biotechnology industry hopes we will overlook fundamental

questions about genetically engineered food. Yet as of today, nobody has

convincingly assured consumers that genetically altered foods are beneficial, or

even safe, for humans and the environment. The latest example of hype versus

hope is the claim that a new, genetically modified rice will prevent blindness

in malnourished children, in India and other parts of Asia. Unfortunately, it

probably can't.

 

When opposition to genetically altered food began to develop in the United

States, the industry mounted a $52 million public relations campaign to extol

the virtues of biotechnology, especially the new rice, for improving world

health. Corporate PR promised to put the so-called " golden rice " in bowls across

Asia.

 

This altered rice was given the honorific " golden " because a daffodil gene was

inserted, giving it an orange color. This gene produces beta-carotene in the

rice, a nutrient humans can convert into vitamin A. Because vitamin A deficiency

contributes to blindness and infectious diseases among the poor in developing

countries, golden rice was aggressively advertised as a miracle grain to end

suffering for millions around the world. More importantly, golden rice was the

first of several foods the biotech industry said would make it possible to

eradicate world hunger.

 

All told, more than $100 million went into developing golden rice, not including

the money spent by biotech companies to advertise and promote this product to

the American public, overseas governments and international health officials.

For the moment, however, the only golden rice in the world resides in a Swiss

greenhouse, and that's where it should stay until it truly measures up to

claims.

 

Developers of this grain have been vague on how much golden rice a person must

eat to get enough beta-carotene for the recommended daily vitamin A needs. But

an analysis of industry data shows that in order for those most vulnerable to

blindness -- infants -- to get enough vitamin A from breast milk, their mothers

would have to consume almost 40 pounds of cooked rice per day.

 

Similarly, an adult male would need to eat 18 pounds of cooked golden rice to

meet his daily vitamin A requirement. In other words, if golden rice were simply

substituted for a daily diet of conventional white rice, a child or adult would

receive only 8 percent of their daily vitamin A requirement. Even so, the body

can convert beta-carotene into vitamin A only if adequate amounts of fat and

protein are also part of the diet. Generally speaking, malnourished people, by

definition, lack fat and protein in their diets.

 

But this raises another, even more fundamental question that the developers of

golden rice apparently overlooked. Virtually all Asian populations eat white

rice. Brown rice, readily available and considerably higher in essential

nutrients, has never caught on throughout Asia. Why, then, do biotechnology

promoters assume their rice will prove popular?

 

The answer is wishful thinking. Ninety percent of the world's rice is grown and

consumed in Asia, making this region a vast potential market for a genetically

engineered version of the crop. Asian agricultural officials are highly

suspicious of golden rice, however, fearing that it will shift control over food

security from villages to multinational corporations.

 

World health officials have concluded that poverty, not a lack of modern

technology, is the fundamental cause of malnourishment. And they point out that

nutritional deficits can be easily and cheaply corrected with a more varied

diet. Green leafy vegetables, oranges and red palm oil all are high in vitamin

A.

 

Any lingering illusion of altruism on the part of biotechnology companies dims

when the subject of patents arises. By the middle of 1998, half the world's

patents on genetically engineered rice were owned by just 13 companies. In the

case of golden rice itself, Zeneca, the company that developed the vitamin-A

gene plant, now holds exclusive commercial rights, which applies not just to

rice but to all future crops that might carry the gene.

 

Contrary to the biotech industry's lofty claims, the aggressive promotion of

golden rice does not spring from corporate generosity. Defying all logic, they

are saying to Americans, " Accept largely untested, genetically altered

ingredients in your food, because people are going blind in India. "

 

As an Indian, I feel strongly that neither Americans nor Indians need eat these

risky and unnecessary products. Healthy, readily available alternatives are

abundant.

 

Anuradha Mittal is co-director of Food First/The Institute for Food and

Development Policy (www.foodfirst.org).

 

 

 

© 2003 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

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