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CONTROVERSY continues to surround the development of genetically engineered
“golden rice” designed to combat vitamin A deficiency.

After talks with Greenpeace at the headquarters of the International Rice
Research Institute in the Philippines last week, IRRI researchers said it would
be at least four years before field trials would start. But the Peasant Movement
of the Philippines (KMP), a radical group which campaigns against the
globalisation of food production and GM crops, still plans to demonstrate
against IRRI next week.

Golden rice is engineered to contain beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A.
Shortage of the vitamin in food is thought to kill up to 2 million people a year
worldwide. IRRI, a publicly funded research body responsible for the creation of
high-yield rice varieties, took delivery of samples of golden rice in January,
after several companies, including Syngenta Seeds and Monsanto, handed over the
rights to its development.

But last week, IRRI played down the seed’s potential. “Much work remains to
be done to develop golden rice into the successful strategy we feel it can
become to help combat vitamin A deficiency,” says IRRI director Ronald Cantrell.
At the moment, the crop contains only low levels of beta-carotene, he says. “It
will be at least three to four years before there are any field trials and
another two years before it may reach farmers.”

Greenpeace has said that researchers have failed to look for
natural rice varieties that could be interbred with modern strains to provide
vitamin A. And it accused the biotech industry of “using the misery of mothers
and children” to gain acceptance for GM crops. But after the meeting,
Greenpeace’s South-East Asian campaign director Von Hernandez praised IRRI’s
“more honest” assessment of the potential of golden rice.

The KMP’s leader, Rafael Mariano, says the Philippines’ rice
industry is in crisis after the liberalisation of trade. “Golden rice can only
make matters worse,” he claims.