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

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

243 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Thousands of children could die after court backs campaign group over GM crop in Philippines, scientists warn

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.

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[–] ynthrepic@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I’m sorry that the only example you actually floated immediately contradicted your previous position of not driving farmers out of business.

How does supporting local farmers drive local farmers about of business?

Except there are kids whose lives and health we can save, right now, if we just start growing golden rice.

"Right now" would be mass sustained imports of Vitamin A supplements. Golden Rice still has some ways to go to be establish on existing rice farms, and then enjoy a successful growing season, even if it had been approved to proceed. If we want to "think of the children" seriously, money shouldn't be an object and we'd be looking at multiple strategies all at once, and not relying solely on an experimental product like this.

We are talking about extremely poor people and areas here, where there is little or no infrastructure to support this as a long-term solution.

Sure, but that's part of the problem isn't it? Why don't we also go in and fix that right now?

What you are suggesting requires drastic change and a lot of upfront money, and continued on-going long-term support and financial assistance.

Indeed. Don't get me wrong, I know it's never going to happen. Given that fact, perhaps we need cheap and nasty shortcuts like golden rice in order to help poor people save themselves with minimal outside resources. Potential patent issues aside if the gene mixes in with local rice varients, and other risks to the environment, it would be great if there was more Vitamin A available in their poverty diets. But, I can see why there is opposition to this. It makes sense, and it's not just "ignorant" people like me who think this, clearly.