NEWS
EVENTS
Fool's Gold(en Rice)?
Other | Monday 14th October 2013 | Alex
Owen Paterson, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs aka 'big dog', called some people a very nasty name. Paterson said that anyone opposed to the new ‘Golden Rice’ is invariably wicked. That’s right, wicked. Now, I struggle to imagine that Paterson is using this in the ameliorative sense, which leaves us with one conclusion: he’s right behind this proposal. What needs to be established, however, is just how ‘wicked’ these nefarious evil doers who don’t want to give the East a Golden Rice Shower actually are?
Golden Rice isn’t a new idea. It’s been through various inceptions and prototypes since 2000 when Professors Ingo Potrykus of ETH Zurich and Peter Beyer of the University of Freiburg began developing a high provitamin-A grain of rice. The Helen Keller Institution suggests that VAD, or Vitamin A Deficiency, is the downfall of roughly 670,000 children each year and causes blindness in a further 350,000. Furthermore, the Golden Rice seeds can be reused and will be distributed free of charge once accepted. So why would anyone contest this most generous of genetically modified produce?
UK Environment Secretary says @Greenpeace @GMWatch etc. are "wicked" for opposing Golden Rice. http://t.co/G7uD2XBRu4 That means immoral.
— Patrick Moore (@EcoSenseNow) October 14, 2013
Just ask Patrick Moore, he’ll have some choice words for you. For those of you less acquainted with this name, Moore was one of the founding members of Greenpeace, a leading environmental activist group. The problem, Moore says, is that Greenpeace is now full of ‘Ultra-Leftists’ - people who want to rebel for the sake of rebelling. Moore, formerly President of Greenpeace, supports the drive for Golden Rice, speaking out against Greenpeace in some sort of public round robin protest. So how are Greenpeace responding?
While it’s true that Golden Rice is jam packed of Vitamin A goodness, it wouldn’t solve the problem of malnutrition. Greenpeace want an all-encompassing solution and rightly purport that many GMOs are dangerous. Does anyone remember the milk produced by rBST in America? That was dangerous to animals and people alike. That said, Golden Rice doesn’t stand to be anything like Monsanto’s Bovine Growth Hormone.
The debate over Golden Rice could rumble on for weeks. Owen says you’re wicked if you’re against it, Greenpeace say you’re anti-nature if you’re for it. Golden Rice is by no measure, cup or grain, a solution to world hunger and malnutrition, but it certainly does help to overcome one hurdle on that arduous quest.
Will Golden Rice prove to be the saviour of people with VAD? What happens if public opinion swings massively in favour of GMOs subsequent to the success of Golden Rice? Is Patrick Moore justified in turning his back on Greenpeace and are Greenpeace contraditcing their own values?
Let us know what you think because it’s, umm, kind of a big deal, y’know.
Alex Taylor
https://twitter.com/alextaylor18
You can follow Golden Rice here to find out about the latest developments concerning the decisive yellow grains.
