Rice is the major dietary staple for almost half of humanity, but white rice grains lack vitamin A. Research scientists Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer and their teams developed a rice variety whose grains accumulate β-carotene. It took them, in collaboration with IRRI, 25 years to develop and test varieties that express sufficient quantities of the precursor that a few ounces of cooked rice can provide enough β-carotene to eliminate the morbidity and mortality of vitamin A deficiency.‡ It took time, as well, to obtain the right to distribute Golden Rice seeds, which contain patented molecular constructs, free of charge to resource-poor farmers.
The rice has been ready for farmers to use since the turn of the 21st century, yet it is still not available to them. Escalating requirements for testing have stalled its release for more than a decade. IRRI and PhilRice continue to patiently conduct the required field tests with Golden Rice, despite the fact that these tests are driven by fears of “potential” hazards, with no evidence of actual hazards. Introduced into commercial production over 17 years ago, GM crops have had an exemplary safety record. And precisely because they benefit farmers, the environment, and consumers, GM crops have been adopted faster than any other agricultural advance in the history of humanity.
What about some nice insects instead? (Because the best approach to a problem is always to invent a Rube Goldberg machine)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/mcgill-students-to-battle-global-food-insecurity-with-insect-farming/article14513314/
C – If its a choice between golden rice, or locusts, I know what I’d choose.
Kate – You have some of the most memorable one-liners.
Great, 3rd world rice, let’s drop the Basmati and scarf it up – not my first choice. Neither as the rest of the nutritionally inferior, pesticide steeped crap big agri like Monsanto are pimping.
It really isn’t a political issue – it’s a consumer choice issue. It doesn’t take an economics doctorate to see the largest growing segment of the consumer food market is towards fresh locally grown heritage cops and organic foods yes the new greenhouse tech allows this year round in Canada. Informed consumers are rejecting corporate farmed and lab food for heritage foods grown/raised naturally sans chemistry and inter-species genetic splicing. The market will decide if these corporate lab crops of questionable quality are viable.
Rejection of GMO food is a matter of being an informed and demanding consumer, it has nothing to do with politics.
Perhaps GMO is latin for forcing consumers to eat things that they’d rather not.
Or perhaps it’s corporate speak for killing consumer choice.
Not really, these “consumer choices” are the nuticial equivalent of a witch hunt, unreasonable fears driven by ignorance and misinformation….informed they are not.
I wish all these GMO critics would knock off the stupid repiticious diatribe. They shouldn’t talk with their mouths full. These anti-Monsanto complainers are forcing the rest of the world to starve. They are cut from the same cloth as Algore. No GMO food is grown in The United States, but lots of hybrids are – that is the same thing. Tell me you nitwits, if Monsanto is GIVING this to third world countries, how are they profiting? All you do is mouth the cliches you have been indoctrinated with. Every modern (last 200 years) crop is a hybrid derivative or the product of selective breeding.
To the yuppies whose grocery bill is piling up because of the overpriced “organic” food. What makes you think for a second that the organic food is one iota different than regular food other than it is marketed as such? One born every day!
I agree with the Sasquatch. Most of the “paleo” folks would have died as children had they tried to live like a cave man. Lucky for them that ag has advanced enough to feed us all comfortably. And to try and stop the production of a food that would benefit billions, that is just idiotic and selfish. Typical of the “progressive” mindset of regulating everyone else, while they get to do what they like.
Occam, no one is forced to eat GMO food. Grow your own if you are that afraid of it. The fact is that humanity is smart enough to now manipulate food crops via gene splicing vice using a manual method of manipulation using grafts and cross pollenation (not sure of the tech but I think you get my meaning) isn’t a bad thing, it really is a good thing. Many of the foods we have today were spliced or manipulated hundreds of years ago and have survived the test of time.
Agenda 21 useful idiots spreading more lies.For you low info people here,EVERY GD bit of food in the world is ORGANIC,meaning it has carbon in it. Organic is just another word the leftards have bastardized for their schemes;i.e. crimes against humanity by starving people. The e.coli,etc you will get from eating food grown in pig shit will screw up your body or kill you quicker than any pesticide/herbicide used.Yeah,it is a choice for ADULTS,but this is a case of “for the children” so we can starve them.Methinks we need Kate’s famine in the so-called first world!
This is one of Patrick Moore’s bug bears and with good reason. Denying people in the third world a product which prevents blindness in their children in order to appease the whims of first world rent-seekers and hysterics is, indeed, a crime against humanity. I’m sure there will be plenty of non-golden rice available for the luddites once golden rice comes into wide-spread use. But denying people in the third world “choice” to assuage first world irrational fears is simply criminal.
For years and years our beloved CBC has been ignoring Patrick ‘for the children’ Moore. The CBC has been blatantly promoting ‘back to the cave for our children’ Dave Jacuzzi for decades. Why ??
Patrick Moore wrote this piece on Golden Rice way back in 2007. Look at how correct he was and still is.
Meanwhile the fruit fly guy, just lately in Australia, admitted he doesn’t know anything about climate even though he has pushed climate alarmism* for a decade.
*Climate alarmism – the biggest hoax the world has ever seen !!
Why does the taxpayer funded CBC on the one hand back a self admitted nut case while on the other hand ignores a proven track record Canadian?
http://greenspiritstrategies.com/how-to-fight-childhood-blindness/#more-481
Another case of anagrammatical murder. DDT has just been replaced by GMO. Let’s hope the eco-terrorists against the latter don’t rack up the death count of the former.
Dr.Mengele Suzuki has long advocated killing the poor. he had a CBCpravda special saying we should adopt cuban farming practices. a place that hasnt fed its people in 50 years
No fool like an old “organic” eating fool who thinks history starts every morning.
Average life span in Zambia…43. Could be they don’t eat to healthy?
Is there any evidence that genetically modified foods cause any short or long-term harm? If not, put it in the marketplace and let people sort it out themselves. We’ve had Pablum, vaccines and food additives for years. We’ve been monkeying around with nature to serve our purposes. Why would this be different? If this can feed people now and there is no harm, what’s the hold-up?
Methinks this has more to do with green-eyed fools who would rather see millions die of starvation than see someone get rich for any reason.
I am all for consumer choice, the problem is in the case of golden rice consumers are not being allowed to choose, as it is being kept from people and causing needless deaths of mostly children. The organic heritage grains movement comes from people that have never been hungry and always had more than enough resources to pay for the sustenance they choose to consume. So I ask that while you are preaching from a top your anti GMO pedestal remember that for those of us with limited financial resources all organic, hertitage grain food diets are not possible or plausible.
Green kills. Environmentalists kill. Ban DDT – well, you can eat locusts. Ban GMO – well, your kids can go blind. Ban oil, gas, and nuclear power – well, your aged parents and your kids can freeze in the dark.
So you don;t think Monsanto et al aren’t part of the agenda 21 NWO? You do your credibility damage standing up for monopolist lobbies like Monsanto who have done more than any other culprit to kill the small producer.
See what happens when we go for too long without a war or some really hard times ? The reset is not too far down the road and roasted rat and roots will once again be in favor. Seems gloomy, but look at the upside. Eco nuts and treehuggers will be silenced, Indians will be treated like ordinary citizens, moonbat Mayors and bureaucrats will be driven from office, countless stupid regulations will be treated with the middle finger they have always deserved, guns will again be seen as tools, wood smoke will again be envied as a sign of comfort and second hand smoke and bicycle helmets will be a laughable subject. Survival and all it entails will eliminate all the professional busy bodies and activists along with the problems of obesity and concerns of whether GMO foods might infiltrate the food chain. In many parts of the world that is life on a daily basis. Anyone who thinks it can’t happen here has not studied their history. The push towards socialism is a guarantee that history will be repeated. Not if…..just when. Is Soylent green a GMO food ?
You stupid indoctrinated twit! What matters if someone gets rich feeding the world. Who (that is you and your pension and IRA) cares if money is made when the world is fed. You pukes make me sick. You would rather have billions of dead rather than billions in profits. I guarantee you Monsanto has done no more to kill small American farms than the small American farmer. I am a SMALL American farmer and I guarantee you I fear the American Federal government more than I fear Monsanto!
“What about some nice insects instead?”
Yes, I saw that insect farming item too. Have we no shame? Let’s get the Third World eating locust meal!
What’s next? Soylent Green?
It’s the politics (dictators, etc) more than anything, that keep the third world poor and hungry. GM crops won’t change that.
Monsanto has done a lot of good in the world, but where they went wrong, and why so many hate them is this:
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,18814,00.html
It was a business model that was applauded by all shareholders and vested interests but did more long term damage than they anticipated. Smart and greed are usually incompatible.
If some of you would see how some so-called “organic” food is grown you would barf.
Peterj, you very accurately described Russia 1917 to 1922. People during that time period quite often subsisted on Russian thistle soup, squirrels, and even rats. Farmers on this thread will know what Russian thistle is. People gathered grain kernels along railway tracks, picked grain out of the granary corners and sifted the mouse feces out of it. People will killed by robbers for the meager contents of their larder, and so on. No da* busybodies of any sort there until the Soviets consolidated their control, and then there were lots of busybodies.
Anyhow, I just love Kate’s one liner captions on this thread, as they are so true.
I don’t have a link, but Mr. suzuki was eviscerated by Mr. Levant today on “The Source”.One of the subjects was genetically modified foods.
This may get you there; http://bcove.me/0bt35gwv . The show is about 20 minutes long and touches on many subjects,but if you love Mr. Suzuki as much as I do,it is worthwhile.
Davey boy cares about feeding the poor ,but thinks we are rushing into GM foods,even though the facts say otherwise. Suzuki also thinks there are too many people in the world. I do too,one less would be a good start.
GM foods work. Progress works, and that involves modifying our environment.We have been doing it for centuries.That is what got us here.
As for watching how food is grown may make you ‘barf’ or be otherwise unpleasant,try working in a slaughterhouse. It can be gross,but at the end of the day,it is tasty.
Wallyj, I said “organic” food. You must remember that I am a retired farmer of forty years, and have seen how so-called organic food is grown other than the obvious weed filthy fields.
Other than that clarification I agree 100% with your comment.
Ken,yes I should have specified ‘organic’.
But,what is the difference between the two? Except for the lack of fertilizers and weed control,is there much difference? I would think that the organic farms would be less desirable.
make the city kids pay…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwjX-p30sLM
African “poor” are not “poor” because of beta carotene.
It’s corruption. Not a food issue.
The world over has headaches because of plolitical malfeasance/theft, whatever label you want to use.
Where I get my reservations about GMO products, is the idea that a “simple” gene splice will solve the problem.
In the real world, real problems don’t have simple, real solutions.
A chemist in a lab cannot replicate thousands or even millions of years of trial and error as in the real, natural-selection world. Trial and error.
Sorry. That’s how I feel.
QUICK solutions ALL have their own associated problems. The promoters, and their fans, tend to skip over this re-ocurring fact.
And as far as modified foods we already have,without knowing it, well that clearly shows how upfront the industry has NOT been.
Trust them? Are you serious?
QUICK solutions ALL have their own associated problems. The promoters, and their fans, tend to skip over this re-ocurring fact.
Yeah, feeding animal byproducts to bovines was ‘safe’, until it wasn’t…nothing like learning the hard way.
“A chemist in a lab cannot replicate thousands or even millions of years of trial and error as in the real, natural-selection world.”
When milling wheat was first grown on the prairies the seed stock used was sourced from warmer climes where the seasons were longer. The first wheat crops froze and the end product had to be used for livestock. It took less than 50 years for wheat to be bred and improved for our shorter seasons and its ability to withstand rust and other prairie afflictions. GMO is merely an extension of those fairly recent scientific advances. Monsanto has no monopoly on the chemical round-up or the science. The patent expired and generic round-up(glyphosate) has been available to farmers for many years now.
To the anti-GM crops crowd:
If you have eaten any grain-based products (wheat, rye) during the past 60 years you have consumed GM foods.
Here’s the entry on Wikipedia, although it’s well known to anyone with a passing background in science – scroll down to the “Botanical Use” entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colchicine
The list of non-grain GM crops you have been consuming for the past 60-odd years is too long to list. The recent GM work you are getting all frothy about is just repeating a theme using newer techniques.
In short, you anti-GM wanks are already polluted beyond redemption by your eating habits. There has been little to nothing out there over the last 1/2 century which has been GM-free.
And this, by the way, is what organic is really all about – 21 sickened, one dead:
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/09/gorts-gouda-raw-cheese-outbreak-sickens-21-with-e-coli-one-dead/
Yup, and surprise, surprise, we are living longer than any generation in history.
Actually there is not a whole lot of difference in the grains other than lack of weed control and lack of commercial fertilizers. The net result is much lower crop yields.
However, a few years ago a local town’s sewage lagoon froze up during the winter and they had to truck haul the sewage from the lagoon. first they dumped it in one of the rural municipality’s road ditches until they got caught. Then an organic farmer offered to take the sewage, so they dumped it on his fields. The field was seeded to oats the next year, so these oats were exposed to whatever people flush down their toilets and drain through their kitchen sinks. No doubt the organic oatmeal tasted real good.
To add to T.C.’s comment. A few years ago a dozen or so people died in the US from food lettuce contaminated with E-coli. It was discovered that the lettuce had come from organic fields which had sewage applied.
Anti-GMO people are just the same as anti-vaxxers. They want to feel happy about themselves, while making sure their pompous and foolish behavior kill others.
complainers are forcing the rest of the world to starve. Posted by: Old Country Boy
That is incorrect. People starve because they don’t grow enough food to feed themselves or don’t have anything worthwhile to trade for food. It is NOT the responsibility of anyone else to feed the poor. Feeding unsustainable populations only adds to the overpopulation problem.
No GMO food is grown in The United States, but lots of hybrids are – that is the same thing.
Wrong on both counts. Many GMO crops are grown in the US: corn, soy and beets are just a few examples. Hybridization is not the same as genetic engineering.
Well, considering that DDT has saved millions of lives, that’s a great statement in favor of GMO.