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.
I’m highly skeptical of anti-GMO claims. Usually they come from the same family of pseudoscience as anti-nuclear and anti-vaccine
There are very valid arguments against GMOs even if they’re safe from a strictly scientific point of view. Those mainly pertain to control over seeds by corporations that will allow them to exploit poor farmers. This is happening to a huge extent in India where many farmers have committed suicide because of these practices.
Yep, exactly. I’m against Monsanto suing farmers for cross-pollination when the wind blows.
Seed patents are dumb. Once something has been planted it belongs to the ground now, if it spreads that’s too bad for giant corpo.
EDIT: the link above is the the wrong case. I found this link which breaks things down better.. I’m still of the opinion that seed patents are dumb, and that if farmers harvest seeds from crops on their fields they should be allowed to replant them.
You’re link isn’t even about the “cross pollination” situation (which was also done intentionally by the farmer) but about someone buying the seeds from a third party and then claiming that they are allowed to replant the seeds because they aren’t bound by the licensing agreement.
We can argue whether or not this farmer should be allowed to replant the seeds in this case, but trying to paint it as if the seeds flew into his property and then he was sued for it is a disgusting misrepresentation of what actually. It was done very intentionally by the farmer. They aren’t some innocent victim, but one who thought he could get the ip without paying for it. We’re talking about capitalists fighting each other.
Thank you! Sorry I had gone done a rabbit hole and copied the wrong link. There’s a lot of Monsanto lawsuits it turns out.
This was the one I was thinking of, but its not as readable. Also, it’s not 100% whether it was solely because of the wind, although that’s the claim. https://www.ielrc.org/content/n0407.htm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto_Canada_Inc_v_Schmeiser
If you don’t want to read the link, it wasn’t accidental. Some glyphosate resistant crop flew into his property. The farmer killed off all of the other crops with glyphosate and then harvested the seeds from the surviving plants, knowing they were Monsantos ip, and replanted them.
The farmer did not argue in court that it was accidental, but that because it was his private property and he had no agreement with Monsanto that he had the right to do this.
Again we can argue whether or not he had the right to do this. But this whole “poor farmer did nothing and got sued!” Is just straight up blatantly misleading anti GMO propaganda. I don’t believe you are intentionally spreading it, but you are none-the-less.
Thank you. I wasn’t aware that he was aware it was Monsanto’s. I also know that farmers aren’t automatically in the right (look at the dairy industry practices and political lobbying for instance). It’s relieving to know that it wasn’t the original seeds that resulted in the lawsuit, though I think I do lean towards the idea of once seeds are planted the plants and anything they produce belong to the one who planted them.
Do you have any more info about seed patents? I mean I understand it takes a lot of research to develop the pesticide-resistant crops (and also know that an organic label means nothing) but am having a really hard time reconciling the idea of needing a license to plant seeds that you harvested yourself.
That’s not an argument against GMOs, just a specific kind of GMOs.
It’s an argument against commercial use of GMOs in agriculture by monopolistic megacorporations.
Farmers by and large don’t reuse seeds now, patenting seeds so they can’t be reused is not limited to GMO, farmers are free to reuse seeds that are no longer patented, and farmers committing suicide in India has nothing to do with GMO specifically, but issue with farming in general.
These are all just made up anti GMO talking points only loosely related to GMO, if even at all.
GMOs aren’t inherently bad but many crops are genetically modified to be resistant to glyphosate and other herbicides so they can douse the fields with the stuff.
Even in that case it’s not the modified plant itself that’s harmful but the remains of roundup left in it after being sprayed.
Right. The genetic modification protects the crops from glyphosate, not you.
Eventually Monsanto will engineer all of us to be able to drink Roundup.
Imagine? We’d be able to write our name in the grass like we can in the snow.
Microplastics in fetuses, glyphosphate in our piss, and cancer rising in young people. The future is truly amazing.
This article is pretty close to pure clip bait and possible just media spin from Greenpeace, other more reputable articles don’t even mention Greenpeace and highlight a lot of local support against the rice. https://www.isaaa.org/blog/entry/default.asp?BlogDate=5/8/2024
The author didn’t address it in the least, which is troubling, but how exactly did they prove to the court that the rice hadn’t been shown to be safe? They seem to have made a convincing argument and I’d rather like to know what it was. Seems like an important part of the story to me.
This is especially rational to question when looking at the GMO’s previous healthclaims like the safety of Roundup - Monsanto has had no qualms about lying to the public in the past.
But Roundup doesn’t have anything to do with GMOs? They made genes that let some plants tolerate a pesticide. The effects of that pesticide have nothing to do with the gene.
What a terrible article. A polarized solution: either the dangerous rice or nothing… As if no other possible food sources could exist or could ever have been considered. And nobody saw this coming, and nobody had any backup plans.
The backup plan was to blame Greenpeace and throw their hands in the air, magically absolved of any responsibility. Jesus.
What evidence do you have that it’s dangerous? We’ve got decades of testing that shows it’s safe and effective, and the experts all agree that there is no evidence that it’s dangerous.
I feel like I’m debating against the anti-vaxxers of the COVID pandemic all over again: ignorant fear over the opinion of experts.
it seems to be the nature of the political situation. If you check the news section of the greenpeace/phillipines website this story is in line with their own stated position. relevant link
full take: this is a complex topic involving sociology, agricultural science, economics, culture, ethics, and more and deserves serious discourse
meme take: THAT RICE IS PRETTY I WANT IT
My friend got her doctorate engineering rice to grow in high salinity areas. The goal was to aid farmers near brackish water and without access to good farmland. Greenpeace would definitely not like that.
Right, right… and why does Indonesia need capitalist-parasite-friendly monocropping all of a sudden to properly feed it’s people again?
The idea that more capitalist exploitation will (somehow) fix the problems caused by capitalist exploitation is something the liberal hive-mind here on lemmy seems rather eager to get behind.
Good on those local farmers.
Fuck the gmo-peddlers, fuck (so-called) “Golden Rice,” and fuck liberals who turn pro-colonialist at the drop of a hat.
Golden rice was developed as part of a non profit grant. Seed is distributed free of charge to farmers with an annual profit of $10k or less, and they are permitted to keep and replant seed as much as they want. Nutritionally it is identical to normal rice except it contains high levels of vitamin A for which large portions of the population in the Philippines (and many other countries) have a critical deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency has a major impact on childhood mortality rates.
The only criticism they have is that it’s a gmo crop and they don’t trust its safety, which is really just a PR issue because it has been thoroughly tested for human consumption. Your response is a perfect example of making the problem worse through your ignorance.
