this post was submitted on 26 May 2024
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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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[–] [email protected] 67 points 6 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (8 children)

The right way to do it would be to outcross Golden Rice with local strains to transfer the beta carotene gene while preserving other traits that are already adapted to the local ecosystem, thereby maintaining biodiversity and allowing the rice to continue to coevolve with other local organisms. But that would threaten ~~Monsanto’s~~ corporate patents.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 6 months ago

Introgresion of the beta carotene-giving T-DNA locus into local varieties would take a decade before we can obtain a cultivar that resembles local varieties, and this is only if said local varieties are highly homozygous. If they are not, what you are suggesting is simply not possible with 2024 technology and I don't see it becoming possible soon. Such a delay would mean large numbers of children dying and many more suffering. The Monsanto boogeyman's profit desires are not relevant, unless you'd like to give them some credit for making the damn thing, and I'm not even sure they were involved? A company called Syngenta made Golden Rice 2, maybe you're referring to that?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 6 months ago

that would threaten Monsanto’s patents

Its the other cancer peddling shitheel this time. Syngenta owns the patent, making it completely justified for Greenpeace to prevent them from gaining control of the food supply, even if they have to use BS arguments about food safety to do so.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 months ago

Who's talking about Monsanto?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago

IP on crops is a legitimate problem. I didn't see anything about terminator seeds, but honestly wouldn't surprise me. Saving lives can all to be often at odds with making money. Plan probably is to take over the market and then ratchet up the price...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The right way to do it would be to outcross Golden Rice with local strains

That this might happen is literally one of the specific complaints of farmers.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It’s only a danger to the other farmers legally. They could be sued for using patented genes.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

The article said they felt it could endanger their livelihood by crossing with cultivars they'd spent decades developing and which were uniquely valuable economically.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

The right thing to do is to get a job at Monsanto, acquire a copy of the gene sequence, then smuggle it to some off the grid lab to do one’s own cross breeding.

Like Praxidike Meng did with that protomolecule yeast.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago