The False Promise of Genetically Engineered Rice

“Genetically engineered (GE) rice--such as the now-famous Vitamin A rice or 'Golden Rice'-- is being heavily promoted as a solution to hunger and malnutrition. Yet these promotional campaigns are clouding the real issues of poverty and control over resources, and serving to fast-track acceptance of genetically engineered crops in developing countries. (…) Vitamin A rice is a techno-fix to the problems of the poor decided upon and developed, without consultation, by scientists and experts from the North.“ Joint statement to the press, 2 June 2000, by three farmer organisations from Southeast Asia. 1 News about a "Golden Rice " first appeared in August 1999, when scientists announced they had succeeded in genetically engineering a rice variety to contain Beta-Carotene (or pro-Vitamin A), a compound that our body can convert into Vitamin A. The scientists said they hope that this genetically engineered (GE) rice would be an important tool to fight Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), a malnutrition problem which affects millions of people in poor countries, especially children and pregnant women. GE rice has been presented in some publications and debates as a quick and easy solution to VAD, but evidence shows that this is not the case. In the short term GE rice is the most expensive, least developed, and most ecologically dangerous way to address VAD. In the long term, the single-cro