Interview With Professor Potrykus, Inventor of Golden Rice

crabel writes "According to WHO, 127 millions of pre-school children worldwide suffer from vitamin A deficiency, causing some 500,000 cases of irreversible blindness every year. This deficiency is responsible for 600,000 deaths among children under the age of 5. Golden Rice might be a solution to this problem. The only problem? It's GMO. In an interview inventor Potrykus, now close to 80 years old, answers questions about the current state of approval, which might happen in the next couple of months."

Comments

"The only problem? It's GMO."

[Anonymous Coward]

It being a GMO isn't a problem, unless you're a Luddite.

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[Garridan]

Yup. The problem with GMO is that Monsanto uses it so they can soak crops with RoundUp. Say no to RoundUp, not GMO.

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[hawkinspeter]

The seeds being owned by a company is a problem, though. It's like open vs closed source but applied to food.

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[hawkinspeter]

That's a false dichotomy - there's more than one way to skin a cat. How about we encourage them to grow more sweet potatoes (which naturally have a high vitamin A content) rather than forcing them to grow cash crops to export in a futile attempt to pay back their international debts?

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[Pi1grim]

Apparently you haven't read the study itself. Which was conducted on mice genetically predisposed to cancer and that during the process control groups were changed so that results would better fit the theory of cancer-inducing GMO. Articles are being removed, because the study was a conducted with so many violations it's result cannot be trusted and since independent attempts to reproduce the results of the study, conducted thoroughly have not come to the same conclusions. But, please, go ahead and don't let facts get in your way of fear-mongering.

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[rycamor]

No kidding. The anti-Luddites are just as bad as the Luddites when it comes to this stuff. There is a whole spectrum of food available without needing to rely on someone's patented experiment.

With sweet potato, it's not just vitamin A. they have about the highest concentration and spectrum of vitamins you will find in any common crop. And it's freaking easy to grow. The problem is not lack of technology, but lack of simple knowledge and willingness to apply it.

Another crop that is ridiculously easy to grow in temperate and tropical zones is the moringa tree, which produces copious edible leaves and seed pods, with a near-miraculous nutritional profile. Unfortunately, try to get poor Africans to grow it and eat it and they will often turn up their noses in disgust, calling it "poor people food". Sweet potato often receives the same low-brow snobbery in the USA, actually.

The problem of nutrition is always more cultural than anything else. Look at the USA itself, where abundant nutritious food is available, yet the average American gets most of his calories from high-fructose corn syrup (delivered to your gullet in many sneaky ways). And when you add up HFCS and highly-processed grains, that probably accounts for a good 85% of the calories eaten in this country.

So yes, "golden rice" might solve a problem, in the sense that it would fool culturally-bound people who are unwilling to forego rice as their staple food. But it's hardly the only way. And I do remain highly suspicious of the long-term risk/benefit scenario with GMOs.

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[Joce640k]

Yes, but we're talking about Golden Rice here, which is nothing to do with RoundUp.

Golden Rice has exactly three extra genes in it. The modification made was openly published. Many widely eaten foods already contain the exact same genes The only reason it was added to rice is because that's what these people grow/eat on a daily basis.

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[hawkinspeter]

I was mainly thinking about Africa, rather than the Philippines, but the same situation exists there as well.

It's not the rice that is forcing them to grow cash crops, but it's their external debt that forces them to grow cash crops for export which then leads to local consumers being unable to afford the crops that are grown within their own country.

Ownership of the seeds from a crop is vitally important to people who are trying to feed themselves as they may not be able to purchase the seeds for the next season if they have a bad season. If they switch away from traditional crops (that they can keep the seed from) to GMO crops, they'd better have kept enough seed for switching back again if they fall on hard times.

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Another crop that is ridiculously easy to grow in temperate and tropical zones is the moringa tree, which produces copious edible leaves and seed pods, with a near-miraculous nutritional profile. Unfortunately, try to get poor Africans to grow it and eat it and they will often turn up their noses in disgust, calling it "poor people food". Sweet potato often receives the same low-brow snobbery in the USA, actually.

Hah. Golden rice could actually bump into the same problem. For some peculiar reasons, in many parts of the world, white rice - pretty much like white-anything (bread, flour, people...you name it) is subconsciously considered "purer" and anything else has a poverty stigma attached to it. Don't ask me why, it just happens. Trying to convince Asians to eat something ricey AND brown or yellow or orange may prove difficult. Don't know about Africans but you find this kind of food idiocy pretty much anywhere, so I guess there's a solid chance that golden rice will actually be a tough sale (*especially* since it's been *designed* as "food for poor people who couldn't afford better diet otherwise").

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[N1AK]

So yes, "golden rice" might solve a problem, in the sense that it would fool culturally-bound people who are unwilling to forego rice as their staple food. But it's hardly the only way. And I do remain highly suspicious of the long-term risk/benefit scenario with GMOs.

It would solve the problem of insufficient vitamin A and virtually instantly; I really can't see how that point is debatable, even by people who think it is a bad idea for other reasons.

There are dozens of possible solutions, virtually all of which have been available for decades now. They aren't being applied. Moving people to 'golden rice' is a trivial change comparative to trying to change the diet of hundreds of millions of people, the crops of millions of farmers and the supply chain for millions of tonnes of food.

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[idji]

I remember an Ethiopian turning his nose up in disgust at having to eat leeks, "That is a poor person's food".

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[Mr. Slippery]

The only reason it was added to rice is because that's what these people grow/eat on a daily basis.

Actually many of the people with vitamin A deficiency live in Africa, in areas not known as rice country.

The actual problem is an economic system that leads to people growing rice almost exclusively: "Beyond that though, poorly-fed people are unlikely to be able to absorb beta-carotene even when they eat golden rice. To use it, they need a diverse diet, including green leafy vegetables. But the sorts of vegetables people used to be able to find have declined in number as the green revolution of the 60s and 70s emphasised monocultures of new varieties. Household consumption of vegetables in India has fallen by 12% in two decades." -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3122923.stm

Golden rice only contributes to the problem (economic and ecological) of monoculture. Growing carrots, sweet potatoes,mangoes, papaya, or other vitamin-A rich crops is a much more sensible answer -- unless one is devoted to the current exploitative system.

The purpose of "golden rice" is not to solve malnutrition, that could be done far more cheaply and easily with carrots, etc. Its purpose is to provide good PR for the biotech industry: "Why, yes, our GM crops are largely untested for safety, and most of the studies on safety that do exist are ones we've done ourselves (trust us!); and yes, they present a novel ecological hazard of genome pollution; and yes, they have led to increased pesticides use; and yes, they give more control of agriculture to corporate interests -- but look! We found a very expensive and impractical way to prevent some cases of vitamin A deficiency! Love us! Worship us! Big Science!"

It's not science, it's scientism in the advancement of corporatism.

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[BrokenHalo]

We know, but there are so many people out there that think either "GMO = HCFS" or "GMO = Unhealthy" or, my favorite, "GMO = Monsanto" as if they were the only company that uses GMO techniques.

As a biotech graduate, I get very tired of the hysterical drivel we hear about GMOs (OK, for those who are too damn lazy to Google it: genetically modified organisms). It's as if the last thing we want is an informed debate.

But the same people still expect to reap the benefit of GMOs, from new drugs for treatment of disease to the sweeteners in their diet Coke.

Re:"The only problem? It's GMO."

[jsrjsr]

Last sentence of your quote from Wikipedia:

"Since then, improved strains of golden rice have been developed containing sufficient provitamin A to provide the entire dietary requirement of this nutrient to people who eat about 75g of golden rice per day.[4]"

Average rice consumption per capita per day is higher than that it the Philippines according to a number of sources.

So it is "high enough in and of itself to solve vitamin A deficiency."

GMO is not a problem

[kruach aum]

Ignorance and fear are the problem.

Re:GMO is not a problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Ignorance and fear are the problem.

GMO could be a problem depending on how it is done and how it is deployed. Ignorance and fear prevent any meaningful discussion of the matter. Calling for more research into the risks and then trampling experimental crop fields doesn't help either.

Re:GMO is not a problem

[kruach aum]

What you describe is a problem of ignorance, not a potential problem specific to GMO. Everything could be a problem depending on how it is executed. Wells can bring water to thousands. Shitting in wells can also bring cholera to thousands. Neither has anything to do with wells, and everything to do with knowledge.

Re:GMO is not a problem

[kf6auf]

It's not entirely the fault of the populace that they are ignorant. Have you tried finding out in what way GMO foods at your local supermarket have been modified?

Heck, if the agriculture companies had started using genetic engineering to make crops healthier, they would have been far more likely to be accepted. But they started by making crops more watery (and thus less nutritious), making it so farmers can blanket entire US states with herbicides without affecting the desired crops, and introducing pesticides that AFAIK are just assumed to be safe. So a broad brush was used, and because of the agriculture companies it was the bad brush instead of the good one.

Re:GMO is not a problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Ignorance and fear are the problem.

GMO could be a problem depending on how it is done and how it is deployed. Ignorance and fear prevent any meaningful discussion of the matter. Calling for more research into the risks and then trampling experimental crop fields doesn't help either.

Monsanto Marketeers would call that "anti-advertising".

Most of the ignorance and fear you speak of stems directly from the mistrust in the very companies controlling GMOs, who go so far as to prevent any such labeling on any food to merely identify it as containing their own product. Perhaps if certain companies were a bit more open and honest instead of wanting to secure profits in any way possible, the ignorance and fear could be quelled.

Re:GMO is not a problem

[Joce640k]

It's not entirely the fault of the populace that they are ignorant. Have you tried finding out in what way GMO foods at your local supermarket have been modified?

In the case of Golden Rice the modification have been widely published.

Even Wikipedia has them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice

Re:GMO is not a problem

[N1AK]

I find it interesting that you think changing agricultural practice and diet across a gigantic swathe of the globe is 'simple'.

If Norman Borlaug had tried to introduce more efficient crops instead of developing dwarf wheat he would not have saved hundreds of millions of lives and been awarded one of the most appropriate nobel peace prizes for his work.

Golden rice is licensed freely to small farmers and they are free to re-use seed so there's no typical lock-in risk.

We know the modifications that have been made to the rice. We know the nutritional and organic content of the rice produced. There's no credible reason to believe that golden rice will have negative health consequences; but we know for damn sure that people are dying and going blind now.

Re:GMO is not a problem

[drinkypoo]

Wells can bring water to thousands. Shitting in wells can also bring cholera to thousands. Neither has anything to do with wells, and everything to do with knowledge.

Great. But fracking can fuck your well. And that's what we're doing now. CNG is around $2.35 a gallon-equivalent, why do you think that is? How do you think we came to this pass? What do you think the results will be?

Idiots are against Golden Rice

[rossz]

Idiots who shop at Whole Foods would rather a child go blind due to vitamin deficiency rather than allow an evil GMO food to be used. Their suggestion of "they should eat more vegetables" ignores the simple fact that they need the special rice because they don't have access to the fucking vegetables.

Tons of food have been destroyed in Africa because of this ignorance. It's better that people starve rather than risk ingesting a GMO food. What. The. Fuck?

Re:Idiots are against Golden Rice

[phantomfive]

Their suggestion of "they should eat more vegetables"

When I read this, I thought you were joking, thinking, "no one could be as stupid as suggesting that." Then sure enough, right after, I read this comment. I guess they are that stupid!

Re:Idiots are against Golden Rice

[phantomfive]

I didn't extrapolate, although I can see how you might have misread my post that way.

In general, I have a low opinion of those who irrationally hate oppose golden rice, for reasons mentioned above. People are worried about some hypothetical, speculative harm caused by these GMOs, and are willing to let people die for no other reason than their own fears. This particular rice has been studied a lot, has provable benefit compared to some speculative risk, and people who oppose it generally do so for irrational reasons.

Re:Idiots are against Golden Rice

[phantomfive]

In fact, you might say that "golden rice" is a kind of shibboleth, a test to determine whether anti-GMO people are able to reason about topics well, or whether they are completely irrational in their fears. Greenpeace falls into the irrational category here.

The benefits of the rice are so obvious that you have to be somewhat blind to completely oppose its use in Africa.

Re:Idiots are against Golden Rice

[Anonymous Coward]

We tinkered around with our food system and 2/3 of the population is over-weight and 1/3 is obese. We suffer from heart disease, diabetes and related problems in epidemic proportions.

Heart disease, diabetes and related problems are usually related to overweight. Golden Rice is about malnutrition.

Maybe the solution isn't genetically modifying rice but something simpler as finding the right vegetables to grow alongside the rice that supplies the missing vitamin.

That's what Greenpeace et al. recommends. Doesn't work. People need their land for rice.

Plus, vitamin A in excess is toxic and causes liver damage. Maybe we fix childhood blindness but instead give teenage cirrhosis.

Golden Rice doesn't contain vitamin A. It is enriched with -carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. Overconsumption is not a problem. (If you eat really *alot* your skin becomes orange, but this wellknown condition is benign)

Just because we can genetically modify plants doesn't mean we should go around looking for problems to solve with it, especially that can have large possibly unknown consequences.

Agree. It's better to put our trust in arbitrary fears and let a couple of million children go blind.

Re:Idiots are against Golden Rice

[the plant doctor]

The simplest solution seems to be to grow some carrots or other vitamin A rich food alongside rice. But, maybe you're right and they need every inch of their land to grow rice and can't spare any for other vegetables.

Have you actually set foot in a rice paddy here in Asia? I'm guessing not. Rice is extremely unique in its ability to grow under monsoonal conditions. I'm not aware that carrots are fond of 5cm of standing water throughout the growing season.

Beyond that, as the grandparent noted, these people use all the land to grow rice. It's not that there aren't good solutions (from a Western developed country standpoint), it's that this one FITS the problem at hand.

Re:The obvious solution

[joostje]

Monsanto cannot sue for golden rice either, as there are free licences available, see access for those who need it

Re:The problem with golden rice is lack of fat

[joostje]

rice contains more fat (0.66 gr/100gr) than carrots, so the golden rice should be at least as effective as carrots then. And yes, meat would be good too, but very expensive.

Re:I can't imagine

[Namarrgon]

Bet you didn't know that when you reduce child mortality rates, population growth rates actually go down, not up.

Re:The obvious solution

[Anonymous Coward]

Posting anon to avoid removing mods

Syngenta != Monstano;
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology != Monsanto;
University of Freiburg != Monsanto;

In this case, even Monsanto (Potrykus has spearheaded an effort to have golden rice distributed for free to subsistence farmers. Free licenses for developing countries were granted quickly due to the positive publicity that golden rice received, particularly in Time magazine in July 2000. Golden rice was said to be the first recombinant DNA tech crop that was unarguably beneficial. Monsanto Company was one of the first companies to grant free licences.

The cutoff between humanitarian and commercial use was set at US$10,000. Therefore, as long as a farmer or subsequent user of golden rice genetics does not make more than $10,000 per year, no royalties need to be paid. In addition, farmers are permitted to keep and replant seed. [ Courtesy of Wikipedia]) != Monsanto;

STFU with your (and every other persons) rant about Monsanto in this thread. Not everyone is the devil incarnate Monsanto, not even Monsanto all the time.

Re:The obvious solution

[Joce640k]

It's a cool thing, but some of us aren't playing games when it comes to our health.

Why would GMO affect your health? Do you have any idea what percentage of 'natural' plants are nasty, poisonous, cancer-inducing, etc.?

eg. Potatoes. When they turn green in sunlight it's because they're making a deadly poison to protect themselves. It can cause illness, birth defects and even death. There's no way a potato would get FDA approval if it was introduced in our diets today.

Tomatoes have it, too. You know potatoes and tomatoes are members of the nightshade family, right? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanine

I hope you're totally paranoid about potatoes and ask to inspect them before cooking if you're in a restaurant. Peeling away the green skin doesn't remove it (the green is only chlorophyll, not the Solanine) and it's not affected by heat. You do, ask, right?

Oh, wait...people have been eating them for more than 100 years so it doesn't count.

Re:And never pushed: not profitable.

[somersault]

Nobody's trying to make money from people's hunger. That would be evil! These guys are trying to make money from people's blindness. Big difference.

Tongue out of cheek.. everyone is "making money from people's hunger", or lack of clothing, or lack of computers, etc. Stop trying to make it sound wrong. Researchers need to eat too.

Re:And never pushed: not profitable.

[somersault]

We were only able to develop Golden Rice because the technology was patented. Thus it was publicly accessible for research. Without patents, the technology would have been secret.

They were granted free use of those patents because of the humanitarian usage. And I expect they'll do the same with the final patent on Golden Rice itself. This guy is looking to help the world, not make money. Read the interview, it's quite interesting.

Re:And never pushed: not profitable.

[Charliemopps]

Actually no, they've licensed it for free. As long as your not growing it on a commercial scale you can use it for free. Basically they saw this as a PR opportunity so they helped develop and license it on their own dime.

Re:GMO won't fix this

[the plant doctor]

So in your world, blindness and other consequences of nutritional deficiency is in no way a driver of poverty?

Poverty and well-being are inextricably linked. It's a vicious cycle. If you can start breaking into it at any point it's helpful. Golden Rice is just one entry point into this cycle.