Today I want to highlight a GMO food that has the potential to save many lives. I’m worried about the response to this post because the artificial genetic modification of organisms (GMOs for short) is a hotly contested issue with a lot of misinformation. Still, I feel that this issue is important enough that I should contribute. Although I support GMOs, I understand why many are concerned. The science can be difficult to explain, and the idea of changing something in nature just seems wrong in a way. It’s a negative emotional reaction that even I’m not immune to despite my logical side thinking they’re fine. I also want to emphasize that I’m not going to defend all the shit corporations have done sell GMO crops. They’ve made this GMO debate a hell of a lot worse by doing all the crappy things that corporations are known to do.
I’ve though a lot about how to contribute to this discussion. I didn’t want to highlight studies showing them to be safe. A bunch of other articles that already do a great job at this (1). I also didn’t want to explain how GMOs are engineered as SteemSTEM members @suesa and @justtryme90 have both done a great job at objectively explaining this process (2, 3). Instead, I want to focus on the benefits they can bring to society. The goal here is to give readers a positive emotional response they can associate with GMOs to counter the negative emotional reaction they might already have. Enter golden rice.
What is golden rice?
Golden rice. Image adapted from (4).
Golden rice is a strain of rice genetically engineered to synthesize provitamin A, also known as beta-carotene (4). This vitamin is naturally found in many plants, such as carrots and corn, and has a distinct yellow/orange color responsible for giving these plants their color. This is where the name “golden rice” derives from as the synthesis of beta-carotene turns the rice yellow.
In order to create golden rice, scientist inserted four genes into the rice genome encoding the enzymes phytoene synthase, phytoene desaturase, zeta-carotene desaturase, and lycopene beta-cyclase. When the four enzymes are expressed together, they create beta-carotene from common metabolic products.
The metabolic synthesis of beta-carotene. Adapted from (5)
I want to emphasize that these enzymes were not chosen on a whim. Each class of enzyme has been, and continues to be, extensively researched. For example, phytoene desaturase was discovered in 1976 (6), searching for it in google scholar gives almost 10,000 results (7), and pubmed can find 72 articles with that name in the title itself. Three of the enzymes come from the genomes of other edible plants, but carotene desaturase originates from the bacteria Erwinia uredovora.
The bacterial origin of carotene desaturase is the most unsettling aspect of golden rice for a lot of people so I want to take some time to explain it. It might seem weird that scientists put bacteria DNA in to a plant, but it’s a single gene encoding one enzyme that performs a very specific task. No other bacterial DNA was introduced into the plant and the gene itself can’t really do anything other than make beta-carotene. In fact, using this gene helped minimize the genetic modification needed to create golden rice. It was chosen because it can actually perform three desaturase reactions that plants usually use three distinctive enzymes for (8).
Initial attempts at creating golden rice succeeded in 2000 (9). However, improved golden rice strains continue to be developed to increase beta-carotene content and to make it competitive with other commonly farmed rice varieties (10). Currently, a single cup of golden rice (150 grams) provides half the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A for an adult (11) and no study has found any tangible health or safety concerns with golden rice (12).
Why is this important
A 12 year old girl suffering from blindness caused by vitamin A deficiency. Adapted from (13).
Now for everyone who has reservations about GMOs keep the following malnutrition and death statistics in mind. A 2015 study estimates that 29% of children in low- or middle-income countries are vitamin A deficient and 1.7% of deaths in all children under 5 years old are due to lack of vitamin A (14). This comes to over 100,000 child deaths a year. Its perfectly understandable to be concerned with GMO foods, to ask questions about how they’re created, and to demand regulation. However, active pushback against products like golden rice can demonstrably lead to child mortality and shouldn’t be done lightly.
Prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in children under 5 years old in 2013. Adapted from (14)
If golden rice is so great, why hasn’t it saved any lives yet?
Controversy is probably the single biggest issue holding golden rice back. Public outcry against all GMOs, whether warranted or not, have resulted in significantly increase regulation on GMO products like golden rice. Many countries are reluctant to allow farmers to grow them. Fortunately, multiple food safety agencies, Including the US FDA and the New Zealand equivalent, have determine that there are not health or safety concerns with golden rice (15). Applications to grown them in the Philippines, where they could be incredibly beneficial, are underway. Even better, golden rice is free to use for subsistence farmers (16).
Conclusion
The thesis of this article can be summarized below
- Vitamin A deficiency causes over 100,000 deaths in children annually
- Golden rice is designed to provide vitamin A to these children
- No health or safety concerns have been associated with this GMO
Now you may notice that I’ve consciously avoided going deep into the science or countering anti-GMO talking points. This is intentional because I want to focus on just one message:
GMOs can save lives
Millions of people in impoverished countries are suffering from nutrient deficiency and GMOs might be the only viable solution. Crops with increased resilience, faster growth, or supplemental nutrient production help them and golden rice is an excellent example to illustrate this point. I hope that message gets through to anyone reading this, whether pro-or anti-GMO.
Images
All images used have been labelled for re-use by Wikipedia or Flickr, or are taken directly from the publication referenced. If any image owner has an issue with this article, please contact me and I will address the issue.
Sources
(1) https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2017/06/19/gmo-20-year-safety-endorsement-280-science-institutions-more-3000-studies/ - thanks to @scienceangel for this link
(2) https://steemit.com/science/@suesa/wtf-is-a-gmo
(3) https://steemit.com/science/@justtryme90/science-lesson-genetically-modified-organisms-how-are-gmos-created
(4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice
(5) http://jn.nutrition.org/content/132/3/506S.full
(6) http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/o76-117#.WnH1HainGUk
(7) https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C22&q=%22phytoene+desaturase%22&btnG=&oq=ph
(8) https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/57/4/1007/558906
(9) http://science.sciencemag.org/content/287/5451/303
(10) https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt1082
(11) http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/89/6/1776.full
(12) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0958166916302488
(13) https://www.flickr.com/photos/communityeyehealth/5492473278
(14) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214109X1500039X
(15) http://irri.org/golden-rice/faqs/what-is-the-status-of-the-golden-rice-project
(16) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice
SteemSTEM
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Well done .. Thank you for your words
I think that abnormal ideas or solutions are for abnormal causes like diseases or pests and we can not publish it to everyone.
GMOs are the target of a major FUD campaign, as is the blockchain, because it has the ability to shift the balance of forces in the food production and health care chain.
Yeah, there is a ton of fear and misinformation about GMOs.
Being A SteemStem Member
If this gets in use then there will be no need of additional vitamin A supplement for the children who are the main target of xerophthalmia... Is there a data what amount of B - carotene it provides per gram?
Great post, many people who have negative view regarding GMO will get some wisdom from it.
Good to hear from you @himal. To answer your question, the following link is the best source I can find that describes how much vitamin A it can provide to humans: https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/89/6/1776/4596817
Thanks
I am going to be very careful in responding to your post because this is one topic with wide acceptance and disapproval.
Let me start by saying politics and selfishness is one of the root cause of this debate over GMOs, the intention has always to make life better for mankind. Take it from me the world will soon embrace GMO because the purpose is to improve life from life. How many people have stopped flying airplane because of the risk involved? Such category of people can probably afford to travel on foot because automobiles too are risky. Do we concentrate on the negative side of a thing rather than looking at the greater good? The world population is expanding natural products are being depleted by human activities, there is no guarantee nature will meet the needs in the long run because man is selfish. GMOs are channels for improving life via scientific innovation, yes there may be some draw backs here and there but it took a lot of years for Rome to be built. Apologies to anyone who is anti GMOs I am just expressing my opinion and I respect everyone else opinion. Great post here
I agree. Thanks for sharing!
@originalworks
You mean I don't have to color my rice with curcumin anymore?
P.S. Sugar is provably deadly and I don't see people getting their panties in a knot like they do with GMOs.
That's right, beautiful looking rice every time :)
I remember that sugar post. Good stuff.
I'm impressed! People dread the term GMO as if it's going to get you cancer and your descendants multiple DNA alterations. But it's exactly what I've always believed, the use we people make of something defines it as good or bad.
Good job @tking77798!! :)
That absolutely true. Thanks for reading and thanks for the compliment!
Not sure if genetically modified food is really clean for humans to eat. Do we know for sure 100% that it is harmless? what if the modification changed something that was not intended to change and scientist can't observe or measure it? what if the negative effects are only visible in the long term?
Thanks for commenting. You have a point that we can't be 100% sure that a new GMO is completely safe in the long term. However, golden rice has been around for over 17 years and none of the many studies on it have shown any health or safety concerns. Even if there is a chance that golden rice has a negative long term effect, that chance is strongly outweighed by the potential lives it can save.
Very interesting article! Ive never even heard of golden rice before but it does seem like it has huge potential.
It certainly does!
Finally someone else calling fearmongering, anti-GMO activists out! I wrote something about a year ago on minds.com about this: https://www.minds.com/blog/view/655642991196643334
(Some of the font is wrecked because of some changes to the site)
never thought about this issue, but in a long term it really make sense. How about beyondmeat project ,they trying to use animal cells to grow them in lab environment and distribute it, what y'all think?
I'm not too familiar with the beyondmeat project, but it it synthesizes food in an energy- or cost-efficient manner, then it certainly sounds like a good thing.
Glad I saw this. Honestly I'm also one of those who had misinformation about GMO. I've read about the GMO in academic readings and they only highlighted the issues and negative effect of it. I didn't bother to read more about it, and my mindset is only negative about the GMO.
Glad you read this then. There is a lot of misinformation out there about GMOs and its easy to have only a negative outlook. Hopefully this helps bring something positive to the issue.
This is an amazing write up.. My first time i will hear of a golden.. And besides which also contains vitaminA... But my question is does the rice contain either small or little carbohydrate as the common rice we all know.. And i wish the rice can br distributed all over the world..
All rice, whether golden or otherwise, is composed mostly of carbohydrates. The extra vitamin A in golden rice is sufficient to give it that color and benefit humans, but its still a small part of the rice. So to answer your question, they both contain about the same amount of carbohydrates. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for your humble reply also
Nice article but I'm not fully open minded to accept GMO items. Apologies to bring this up in spite of you clearly mentioning about topics against GMOs. What I say may look highly contradicting but I'm very sorry. I'm from India. I see a lot of american treated seeds being sold in lots of nurseries here. All are vegetable seeds, fruits etc. If I sow them a plant grows and it produces enough vegetables and fruits. All that is fine to me. But if I check those vegetables and fruits grown out of these GMO seeds, there will not be any seeds inside them. But their natural tendency will be to have lots of seeds inside them.
My question here is very simple, if I consume those seedless fruits and vegetables, will I be able to grow fertile enough to produce my next generation?
The golden rice may look perfect now without any side effects or anything. What if something surfaces after few years of consumption?
Thanks for commenting and no need to apologize for bringing up an opposing argument. I'd be happy to answer the question. So far modern science has shown no indication that DNA from food can have any affect on a human's genome, whether GMO or otherwise. No experiments have shown this to be the case nor have any theories raised this as a possibility. To put it simply, the DNA in the food you eat has no chance of getting beyond the digestive system to the best of our knowledge.
Thanks for your reply. I'm just worried about the part when it is being said "So far modern science". What happens if anything surfaces in the future. Many medicines and food products that are banned in other countries, are still being sold in India. Oats and Wheet flour we consume here are already having a huge amount of Gluten. All these were started thinking there will be no harm. But today research works are proving their harmful effects. Well that's a different story.
Maybe DNA from food may not affect human's genome directly but nutrients in the food does affect genes right? What if GMO creates an imbalance in the nutrients and that in turn indirectly affect the human genome?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3442283/You-really-eat-Nutrients-food-change-GENES-behave.html
It really is such a shame that people fearmonger GMOs so heavily. I remember watching a documentary on golden rice back when it was being developed and thinking how amazing it was! Fifteen years on and it's done so little because people fear what they do not understand :(
A lot of us were hopeful that golden rice would have a bigger impact a lot sooner. Hopefully it starts helping people soon.
I argue with my family on this topic often. A little hope in regards to world hunger but they rather cling onto whatever pseudoscience they believe ATM
I've never actually heard of golden rice. In fact, the only thing I've heard about GMOs is bigger tomatoes and more corn. I already knew about all the controversy around GMOs, but the golden rice stuff was very interesting. I think that it is easier to help underdeveloped nations by giving them food rather than things like pills or eye drops, as it is a little more convincing to them.
Glad to show you something new. I think As long as farmers have incentive to grow it, it'll definitely help these underdeveloped nations.
I like the fact that you really emphasized the message well by saying "Scientists didn’t just create golden rice on a whim, they wanted to save lives." There is always a great cause for doing science and golden rice seems to be one...to elevate hunger and provide necessary vitamins. Well science do not get funding if there is no public impact in a good way. GMOs R & D is one great example what science can go despite the common misconception people have about GMOs. I strongly believe that GMOs are perfectly safe and this article bring a whole new perspective to it. Great application of genetic engineering!
Glad to have the support. Thanks for reading and commenting!
The problem with GMOs, or better, the public perception of GMOs is, that the debate about them is highly dominated by "green" NGOs. Their most efficent tool is fear. Humans act not rational most of the time, they don't fact-check everything they hear or read. It simply doesn't matter, how many studies prove, that GMOs are harmless and can, indeed, help people and solve many problems. I doubt there is any way for GMOs and their supporters to win the media war :/
That's very true. A lot of anti-GMO messaging focuses on fear by distorting facts.
Very interesting. for the first time I see the rice in gold color :)
Your post helps me understand what GMOs are from another positive perspective. If GMOs are done right, people may benefit.
Some education should be done as to labelling what are good and harmful GMOs, without knowledge deficiency, people can make wise choices.
Happy to hear this post helps.
A few years ago I was so bombarded with anti Monsanto articles that I decided to study their products and I implicitly landed on GMO's. After a few days of research I ended up being a promoter of GMO's, where possible. But this is because I didn't let my biases get in the way and tried to keep an open mind.
Do you think that in Africa, the GMO's "fame" didn't reach? What if the false rumors spread so fast that they would prefer to be malnourished rather than consume GMO's ? This would be sad!
That would be sad indeed. Hopefully, worldwide opinion on GMOs improve. Glad to see someone who researched this issue in-depth ended up a promoter of GMOs.
I am a believer in the scientific method. I also like to help others through steemit but for now I give likes like there's no tomorrow, so I will need to power up more. I have ideas, I only need to dedicate time. And steem from bittrex :)
I'll follow you so we'll share more ideas in the future!
That last line is why it is not more widely grown, because there is no profit motive, other GMOs are widespread because Monsanto makes money off of selling both the seed and the roundup they are modified to accept. Nobody is getting rich selling this stuff right?
You got a good point there. Without a lot of money to be made on golden rice, progress is slow.
In general, I am opposed to GMOs but it is in cases like these that I think they are useful. Unfortunately, there isn't profit in humanitarian efforts like this so I don't think companies will focus here.
We can definitely agree that companies won't promote something without a profit motive and humanitarian efforts like this are slower than they have to be. Thanks for reading!
Hi @tking77798, thank you for this article! I was thinking of posting on the subject but you summed up everything perfectly.
I had the chance to meet some of the people who worked on Golden Rice and this is definitely a great project developed by academic labs with no intent to make profit out of it. All the strains developed are "open source" and the data available to the public. Sad that some NGOs consider all GMOs as bad without considering the individual specificities of each project.
Its awesome that you got to meet some of the researchers that helped make golden rice. Glad to hear that its a product developed with nothing but good intentions. I'll keep an eye on your work from now on.
Same for your work :) i'd be happy to have feedback from you
I think the more highly contested GMO's are ones that use genes to produce non-native pesticides. Genes that produce antioxidants which have already been ingested by humans for thousands of years are a pretty safe bet (even though as you mentioned, we know there are no 100% safe bets especially with new sciences). I agree that people need to be taught to differentiate, so their fear or doubt can be looked at more specifically. Clarity of concern is our best way forward! Thank you for a great article :)
Better differentiation can definitely improve debate on this issue. Good insight.
Very informative! The term GMO automatically is a buzzword that has a negative connotation because of what the media has reported on it. But it's nice to read an alternative point of view! Thanks for sharing @tking77798!
Glad you liked it. Thanks for commenting.
The profit motive is exactly why I am so leery about GMO's. When I lived in Canada, I met one of the farmers who was put of out business by Monsanto. He didn't sign a contract with them and he wasn't growing their seeds, but his neighbors were. When they would drive by his farm with their uncovered loads of grain and some of it blew into his field, and started growing on its own, Monsanto took him to court, wore him down, bankrupted him and confiscated all the heritage seeds that his family had been developing for generations. You can find out more at this link Percy Schmeiser - David versus Monsanto (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1522241/)
If they will do this to a well educated farmer in Canada, what would happen to small powerless farmers like those in India, Africa and Central America? There is no way they have the education to understand the consequences of cross-pollination, terminator genes, glyphosates or read the ungainly contract that Monsanto expects its seed customers to sign.
I live in a small Mayan village in Guatemala, and GMO seeds are supposed to be illegal here. There was huge protest in the capital a few years ago where the farmers protested the government's plan to start to allow GMO corn to be grown here. Corn is the backbone of the Mayan culture and the staple diet for the people in this country. I can understand why there was a protest. However, I have seen a plot of GMO corn growing down the street from my house. It is very obvious that it is not the local strain of corn. The people here are poor and very susceptible to greed. If they can get a bit of money for now, they don't think about the future consequences. In fact, thinking about the future is not a part of their culture or thought processes. It is not something they have been taught to value and I feel it has been purposely left out of their education. (this is a part of a much larger cultural discussion that I don't want to get into here and now).
It is a very real possibility that if GMO corn is allowed to continue infiltrating the small farms, that these people could lose their heritage strains of corn that they have been growing for thousands of years. Not only would this be a huge blow to their already compromised Mayan culture, but it will impact their health, as their bodies are accustomed to digest the local strains of corn and beans that families have passed down through the years. This is a real problem. Already large groups of these people are suffering from new "Western" diseases that were never seen 30 -40 years ago. The incidents of gastritis, diabetes, cancer, and stress related problems has skyrocketed here as first world countries have brought their packaged and processed foods here. Every small store (tienda) is packed full of chips, pop, margarine, vegetable oil and sugary snacks. None of which was here before all the first world countries started exporting their garbage here. You can't buy fruit or veggies at these stores. And since these people are poor, it is way more tempting for them to buy these cheap and unhealthy snacks than good whole foods and prepare a meal.
So the topic of GMOs is a large one encompassing many inter-related issues from health to economics. Given their track record, I seriously doubt that Monsanto is developing any product solely for humanitarian reasons. Even if they gave these seeds away for free forevermore, it still wouldn't make up for the harm they have caused thus far.
I feel very bad for your friend and I know that some businesses have a different way of operating.
Monsanto sells their glyphosate resistant seeds and then farmers can use glyphosate on their crops. There were instances where other farmers started using glyphosate on their own farms without knowing that their fields was not resistant. Then they blamed glyphosate and Monsanto for ruining their crops. In other cases, GMO farmers used the wrong equipment to pulverize glyphosate and it got in the nearby fields, destroying them.
I mostly agree with you, as greed is a hard feeling to overcome. But rather than dying of undernourishment or starving, I would like to believe that people would use the GMO's. I would use GMO's if the European Union wouldn't ban it. Some say they are banning it to limit imports from US and promote local farmers by using the scientific debate that is going on now as an excuse..
Even though Golden Rice theoretically seems like a great idea, it's a bit twisted that the main idea is to treat the consequence but not the cause. All those people are deficient of vitamin A because their diet is extremely one-sided. It's sad that the focus shifts away from the real problem (poverty) but unfortunately that seems to be the trend nowadays.
I agree that reducing the poverty of these countries will help the problem, but humanitarian efforts have tried to do that for years with little success. Golden rice is an attempt to address the root of the problem by allowing local farmers to help solve the issue. It doesn't help with poverty, but it should improve quality of life.
To quote the A University research paper in the United States :
During pregnancy or during the growth of a newborn When gene mutation plants are ingested, we need to know more about changes in the carbon structure of our bodies and RNA modification If the human variant marries and lives with the baby and the baby is repeated, then a new species will emerge, not the human species.
I don't object to the study of gene variations, but I do think it's a good idea to develop the genetic modification process in an artificial or spontaneous way. Also, should we eat foods that are fearful and modified by their own intention of targeting human beings that have not yet been validated? I wonder if there are a lot of easier ways.
I spoke from the scientist's point of view.
If you're going to quote someone, cite it.
Wow nice article, i also have written article after getting inspired from your post
[https://steemit.com/health/@indrajeet/what-are-cancer-vaccines]
I was need to read this post, thank you
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Thats an amazing idea
We can see on animal examples that GMO makes the third generation of consumers totally sterile ! It is not normal to not be able to plant another tree from it's seed!!!!
That's definitely not the case with golden rice. If you're going to make claims like that. Please include citations so we can assess veracity.
These are facts about yields in India please tell the whole and updated story. Many people have also questioned the corporations motives for trying to get into the country via golden rice in order to monopolize the rice industry. A type of trojan horse if you will. I think your post is great because as a community on steemit we can come together and discuss things in a civilized manner. As oppsosed to facebook and IG where people get super hostile over GMOs.
https://www.independentsciencenews.org/health/goodbye-golden-rice-gm-trait-leads-to-drastic-yield-loss/
These are facts about yields in India please tell the whole and updated story. Many people have also questioned the corporations motives for trying to get into the country via golden rice in order to monopolize the rice industry. A type of trojan horse if you will. I think your post is great because as a community on steemit we can come together and discuss things in a civilized manner. As oppsosed to facebook and IG where people get super hostile over GMOs.
https://www.independentsciencenews.org/health/goodbye-golden-rice-gm-trait-leads-to-drastic-yield-loss/
Thanks for sharing the link. It primarily references a paper that discusses low growth levels of a particular derived line of golden rice. Its true that some of the backcrossed strains of golden rice have low growth. However, strains with acceptable growth levels have been found (http://irri.org/golden-rice/faqs/there-have-been-reports-that-golden-rice-field-trials-resulted-in-stunted-plants-and-reduced-grain-yield-is-this-true). Although corporate motives are an issue when discussing some GMOS, I don't think they're applicable to this discussion as golden rice isn't poised to make a lot of money and is free to most farmers in low income countries.
Free rice in my opinion is the worst thing you could do for any country. Look at Haiti. They want to grow thier own rice but cant compete with the free rice that is donated to them by the united states therefore maintaining them in poverty and fully dependent on the US for survival. Also like I said there was been some speculation that even though it seems like golden rice is not for profit it can be used as a trojan horse for companies like syngenta to come in to India and monopolize the rice industry. What are your thoughts on what Vandana Shiva has written about Golden Rice? Is she way off base or is there some truth to what she says? What do you think about the effect the pesticides have on the human body? They are integrated in the genes of the seed are they not?
This article isn’t about pesticides or international economics. It’s just about a GMO that can save lives. When I say “free” I mean that farmers can grow it freely, not that it’s donated.
As to the Trojan horse theory, I think it’s more likely that golden rice will save lives than it being part of some worldwide GMO conspiracy.
All the money for research, development, the money put in patenting and marketing would actually have saved lifes. It is hard to believe that this was developed with pure altruistic motives, that it is only free for subsistence farmers says it all. This is a money machine first. It may safe lives, true, but that was not the intention why it was developed. There are so many cases of cross contamination, GMO’s may be safe for your health, but try to argue with those multibillion companies and their patent lawyers that it was your neighbour planting those seeds and not you. That is the real thread of GMO’s, the patents, not the concerns about health.
It seems difficult that corporations would want to profit off of a product that only poor malnourished individuals with little wealth will need. I don't think cross contamination with golden rice is an issue, but if you have evidence that this is the case, please share it.
You may think of Greenpeace what you want, but they have done their research and have some good points. In this report they address 2 cases of cross contamination of rice. Then they adress that the parents of the children on which feeding trials with golden rice were tested, weren’t informed that the rice was geneticaly engineered. There may be people alergic to golden rice, so at least give me that everyone has the right to know what he consumes.
Source: greenpeace.org [pdf]
Cinese state-owned ChemChinas aquired Syngenta, the company that developed golden rice, for $43 billion, regulators and 80% of the shareholders clearing the deal.
Source: syngenta.com
Syngenta licensed for this product a package of proprietary technologies belonging not only to Syngenta but also to Bayer AG, Monsanto Co, Orynova BV, and Zeneca Mogen BV.
Source: goldenrice.org
I would really love to share your enthusiasm, but i’d rather see those patents in the public domain than in the hands of companies. Because the only guarantee you get is the obligation to their shareholders to grow their revenue by preventing people from growing their own patent free crops, and making them dependent on seeds that terminate themself. It’s a real thread to biodiversity.
Sooner than later we will live in a world where every food is patented. Do you really want such a life? There are so many animal species distinct since my childhood, the same will happen to crops.
If this companies really don’t want to profit of this product, then they should put those patents into public domain for goodwill.
such a great work thats how we should do, im glad for you having thoese upvotes , my best one 0.4 maybe lol the begainnig on steemit is a bit hard , we need some encouragement from you mates I belive in relation with this beautiful commuity, waiting to see your next professional work
saving third world people is novel thing but has nothing to do with GMO safety.
You can't say Fossil fuel is so good and we should encourge spend it more because third world people get more benefit from it than eco-safe alternative.
If you want to frame this product along the line of 'save the world moto' rather than gmo safety, I think you should focus subject of 'is it truly cheap than any other remedy?'
I mean introduction new crops to any nation is long, daunting process.
And propagating this to local farmer is next one.
I want to know how much time and money each process will cost