Genetically modified Golden Rice falls short on lifesaving promises

The article below appears just a couple of weeks after GMO zealot Matt Ridley published an Opinion piece in The Times titled, “Time to embrace GM crops... and reap the rewards”.

 

Ridley wrote: ”It is a disgrace that Greenpeace still campaigns against golden rice, a vitamin-enhanced variety that could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year."

 

But a study published in April (abstract at the foot of this post) by Glenn Davis Stone, professor of anthropology and environmental studies at Washington University in St Louis, and Dominic Glover, a rice researcher at the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex, shows that anti-GMO activists are not to blame for Golden Rice’s unfulfilled promises. The fact is that the rice still isn’t ready, after 24 years of research and  millions of dollars in funding.

 

GMWatch readers will be familiar with the fact that GM golden rice still isn’t ready and won’t be for several years, but it’s great to see the facts spelled out in a peer-reviewed publication.

 

As Prof Stone says in the article below, “If we are actually interested in the welfare of poor children — instead of just fighting over GMOs — then we have to make unbiased assessments of possible solutions. The simple fact is that after 24 years of research and breeding, Golden Rice is still years away from being ready for release.”