While it is absurd that it took so many years to be approved, by itself Golden Rice is not a universal panacea to feeding the world. It may be unpopular to say but no matter how much we improve crop yields and decrease food wastage, the only way to continue feeding the world in the future is to recognize that we live on a planet whose resources are finite and therefore limit the size of the global population.

@ Luz, Golden rice is fortified with beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A inside the body, beta-carotene-fortified rice combat malnutrition, golden rice also has higher crop yields than many improved varieties of rice. We need also Vitamin A for healthier skin, immune systems, and vision. Therefore, I think Golden rice is an excellent technology that may help to solve hunger and malnutrition especially in developing rice eating countries. As a source of vitamin A Golden Rice can be as effective as milk, eggs or butter. Only 40 grams consumed daily is expected to prevent death and blindness, with no possibility of overdosing, as the human body only converts the beta-carotene it needs to vitamin A and excretes the rest unchanged.

I am not sure.....But all that I can say that golden rice alone will not be able to alleviate hunger and malnutrition simultaneously, especially in developing countries. There are many parameters yet to be observed, many "acid tests" to still to be validated and successful.

Not a miracle technology, but one of the promising tools in the box. It is unethical not to try to alleviate these problems when it has been available for so long I think.

Edit:

I can also highly recommend a Dutch documentary that partially covers this issue and has a discussion with a CEO of Greenpeace: https://vimeo.com/188913344 From 39:00 minutes onwards, it gets very interesting as Greenpeace considers golden rice as a "Gateway drug/Trojan Horse" to allow GM technology, and therefore opposes it. Completely unethical in my opinion.

While it is absurd that it took so many years to be approved, by itself Golden Rice is not a universal panacea to feeding the world. It may be unpopular to say but no matter how much we improve crop yields and decrease food wastage, the only way to continue feeding the world in the future is to recognize that we live on a planet whose resources are finite and therefore limit the size of the global population.

It may help up to a certain extent to alleviate hunger (as being productive as good as other rice CVs.) and malnutrition, particularly for Vit. A as rice is a major staple food in many parts of Asian regions.

Dear Dr. J. C. Tarafdar thank you for your good insights. ---Luz

Dear Dr. Amit Baran Sharangi thank you for sharing your ideas about this GMO crop. ---Luz

Sjon Hartman

Dear Dr. Hartman thank you for answering the question I completely agree with you.---Luz

Bernard R. Glick

Dear Professor Glick,

I very much appreciate your sharing your thoughts about this controversial technology. I fully agree with your ideas. Thank you. ---Luz

Pradeep Kumar

Dear Dr. Kumar,

Thank you for your very nice insights. ---Luz

It is quite obvious that golden rice can be a very motivational and attractive crop for the farmers due to its high nutritional value. It can also be used to combat blindness. But when it comes to the point of the hunger and malnutrition (which doesn't include only blindness) in the developing countries like India, surely golden rice can't be a major tool to fight back.

Dear Swagata Ghoshal thank you for the nice comment, as Dr. Hartman has said "Golden rice is a promising tool in the box". The technology is widely considered to have lots of potentials to alleviate hunger and malnutrition in rice-eating developing countries. Would you mind telling us why it can't be a major tool in India too? ---Luz

@Luz G. Asio

Okkk...yes the technology is widely used...of course it can be a major tool to alleviate vitamin A deficiency. But what about the cost? The people who are fighting with hunger, can they afford it? They are fighting with hunger and we are recommending golden rice...doesn't it sound contradictory? And in case of malnutrition, vitamin A deficiency can also be eradicated by consuming relatively cheap food and we should find out such food materials which will meet up various types of deficiency, not only vitamin A.

I can agree with points made by everyone above, but find some alternative arguments too.

Firstly some criticisms: the phrase "miracle technology" is not an appropriate term, that sounds like it was delivered to the world by some supernatural entity, you told us who developed the technology yourself in the question, their methods are published and we can understand how the variety has it's golden colour.

Secondly, malnutrition covers a range of macro and micro nutrient deficiencies, GR will assist with vitamin A deficiency issues, but not lack of total calories, Zn , iodine or Fe, unless combined with a balanced diet from a variety of sources.

The successful adoption of a new variety of any crop relies on it having advantages over existing varieties. In the past this has usually meant greater yield than the previously cultivated crop. If Golden Rice can yield as much as current varieties, it then has a chance to boost proVit-A in the diet of people who don't otherwise access that micronutrient from their diet. If it takes greater inputs (fertiliser, water, time to maturity or farmer care in the form of tending fields eliminating pests) or is more susceptible to disease, lodging, crop loss prior to harvest etc, then adoption rates will be low. [NB: I don't have time to follow up on any of these to see which are likely to be the case for GR].

A final point I heard second-hand from researchers from Africa (working on yellow sweet potato if I recall correctly), if the consumers are suspicious of a product in any way, they won't adopt it. In the sweet potato work, the local farmers grew white fleshed sweet potato and people just didn't like the look of the yellow tubers. If consumers need to be convinced and educated to eat a new product, it will always face an uphill battle for common acceptance.

If the original cultivar is improved (stronger promoters, multicopy genes, etc) it certainly will be better than the other existing cultivars. The availability of provitamin A (and also iron in some more recent cultivars) should prevent by and large the occurrence of blindness in developing countries. However such cultivars should be available at low cost!!

It may just contribute to the fight against malnutrition.

Matthew Wheal

Dear Dr. Wheal,

Thank you very much for your very good contribution to the discussion about Golden Rice. I certainly agree with your points; for example, the term "Miracle technology," but it is how some supporters of this technology call it. Second is the adoption of a new variety would only happen if it has advantages over the existing ones; we have several examples of that from the Philippines. And lastly, your point on the variety being liked by the consumers, this is the reason why local sweetpotato varieties are still very popular among local consumers.---Luz

Jean-Pierre Jost

Dear Dr. Jost,

Thank you for your very important points about Golden Rice. According to the proponents of GR technology, "it will be the poor and the disadvantaged farmers who will benefit from the technology" because "it is given free of charge", "can be resown every year from the saved harvest", and "the seed industry does not benefit from it". And also according to the supporters, it avoids the negative effects of the Green Revolution.---Luz

Beta-carotene in food is a safe source of vitamin A. In August 2012, Tufts University and others published research on golden rice in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showing that the beta-carotene produced by golden rice is as effective as beta-carotene in oil at providing vitamin A to children.

Dear Swagata Ghoshal ,

Thank you for your response.---Luz

Luz G. Asio Golden rice provides valuable nutrients for consumers, but I don't think that it is enough to stop hunger. Especially, when 'Climate change' is happening. A lot of works are still needed to be done to breed disease-resistant and stress-tolerant corp varieties to feed the increasing human population.

Even if we double or triple the available food supply, which is not an easy task, the population growth will catch up to the food supply and eventually we will be in a more difficult situation globally than we are at present. The world and its resources is finite. We cannot continue to support uncontrolled growth. Our entire perspective and behaviour towards land usage, use of resources and population has to change. Golden rice is a wonderful invention, however, it is not the answer to all of our issues as a planet.

Bernard R. Glick

Professor Glick's point is true. To illustrate the lag in rice supply vs. population growth, we can compare the data in 2000 and 2018. In 2000, world rice production was 578 million metric tons (MMT). This increased to 738 MMT in 2018 or an increase of 160 MMT (www.statista.com). For the world population, it was 6.14 billion in 2000 and 7.63 billion in 2018 or an increase of 1.49 billion (www.worldometers.info). Even if only about half of the global population are rice eaters, there is a large deficit in rice supply. And this gap continues to widen. After more than 200 years, the Malthusian Theory has become even more relevant. Why have governments around the world failed to heed the advice from Robert Malthus? What should be done? ---Luz

Dear Yuan-Yeu Yau

Thank you for your kind insights and contribution to this discussion. ---Luz

Dear Luz

Congratulations for your initiative to appoint so good discussion. I don't think only Golden Rice will be a solution for mitigate the hunger in the world. I agree with several of the above opinions but there are a lot of plant to be improve like corn, wheat, bean, only to say the most important. There are no plants species/varieties or techniques that will save humanity. There are several options and we as researchers and scientists have to keep our minds open to all possibilities. On the other hand, the management of crops and the appropriate use of resources avoiding losses in the entire production chain will also enable us to have more food available to all.

Got a chart to share--about crop yield and population. From 'Our World in Data'.

" Production, yield and land use changes over time

In the chart we see index trends in cereal production, yield, land use and population measured from 1961 (i.e. 1961 = 100). From 1961 to 2014, global cereal production has increased by 280 percent. If we compare this increase to that of total population (which increased only 136 percent over the same period), we see that global cereal production has increased at a much faster rate than that of population. If distributed equally, cereal production per person has increased despite a growing population.

Have we achieved this through land expansion or improved yields? A bit of both. In 2014, we used 16% more land for cereal production than we did in 1961 (approximately equivalent to double the area of Germany). Overall, this means we use less land per person than we did fifty years ago. Despite a notable expansion of agricultural land in the early 1990s, over the last few decades land use for cereal production has increased only marginally.

Most of our improvements in cereal production have arisen from improvements in yield. The average cereal yield has increased by 175 percent since 1961. Today, the world can produce almost three-times as much cereal from a given area of land as it did in 1961."

And here is the production trend of different crops. Will this 'upward' trend keep continue? As mentioned above, " Most of our improvements in cereal production have arisen from improvements in yield ". I believe, there is still a lot of room for yield improvement through genetic improvement. The new technologies play an important role in this. For example, currently, the most popular molecular tool, CRISPR-Cas system, has been used to increase genetic diversity, which we badly need in breeding new crops. Luz G. Asio

Liane Terezinha Dorneles

Dear Dr. Liane,

Thank you for your very good comments. I appreciate it very much. I fully agree with you that no single crop will save the world from hunger. We should consider different crops and also different crop production management practices to produce more food. ---Luz

Dear Dr. Yuan-Yeu Yau ,

Thank you for the very relevant data that you have shared. It has greatly improved our perspective regarding food production and population growth. ---Luz

Luz G. Asio Does Philippines need to import rice from other countries?

Yuan-Yeu Yau ,

Dear Dr. Yuan-Yeu Yau,

Yes, we have been importing since the 1980s. Right now the bulk of our rice import comes from Vietnam and Thailand. This is quite an irony considering that we have IRRI and Philrice in the Philippines. ---Luz

Luz G. Asio

When you said " In December 2019, the Philippines joined Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA that accepted the use of this genetically-engineered crop. "

Are farmers going to grow Golden Rice in Philippines, or the government just buy the rice (Gold Rice) produced from other countries? Many crop varieties are usually developed to fit a local region (due to a specific climate). I am not sure what rice variety Golden Rice was derived from. But, if it is not fit growing in a specific region, the yield could dramatically reduced, I think.

As an Environmentalist, Golden Rice, on the other hand, will not help and was created for a commercialized methodology, which means, the process will not alleviate hunger and malnutrition. Let us say, for instance, that might help, however, the cost implication matters. I think the government has something to do on how the agricultural sector be improved naturally like what Marcos did for Masagana 99. I mean, an innovative process towards sustainable agriculture, which will help in alleviating hunger and malnutrition as well as in collaboration with the health department.

Yuan-Yeu Yau

Dear Dr. Yau,

Thank you for the very stimulating discussion about Golden Rice. Based on my readings, the farmers will be provided with the seeds which they can use continuously without buying any new seeds. ---Luz@

But one has to remember, Golden Rice variety was not designed for fighting hunger. It was designed to fight disease blind. Green Revolution hybrid rice and modem hybrid rice are designed for maximum yield production to fight hunger.

Ok, it did cross with local rice varieties, to transfer the whole set of transgene into local varieties. (earlier, I mentioned that many crop varieties are developed into 'local' varieties, because of the specific climate). See below, Golden Rice history, from Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice ).

Crossbreeding (from Wikipedia)

"In several countries, golden rice has been bred with local rice cultivars or crossbred with the American rice cultivar 'Cocodrie'. As of March 2016, golden rice has not yet been grown commercially, and backcrossing is still ongoing in current varieties to reduce yield drag.

Dear Dr. Yuan-Yeu Yau ,

I appreciate very much your very informative comments. I have learned new things from you. Thank you.

Kind regards,

Luz

Hi Luz G. Asio ,

Two more things:

1. I also found this statement from Wikipedia (see below). It seems that Golden Rice is not allowed for commercial propagation in Philippine yet.

" In 2019, it was approved for direct use as human food and animal feed or for processing in the Philippines. This does not constitute approval for commercial propagation in the Philippines, which is a separate stage that remains to be completed. "

2. I don't know the price of 'Golden Rice'. If it is too expensive, then most of common people cannot afford it, let along the poor people. For example, in the U.S., we have 'Black rice' (see attachment). We know it is nutritious, due to its pigment. But, it is usually sold as 2 to 3 times the price of the regular rice. Hardly afford it for many people.

I can also highly recommend a Dutch documentary that partially covers this issue and has a discussion with a CEO of Greenpeace: https://vimeo.com/188913344

From 39:00 minutes onwards, it gets very interesting as Greenpeace considers golden rice as a "Gateway drug/Trojan Horse" to allow GM technology, and therefore opposes it. Completely unethical in my opinion.

Dear Dr. Yuan-Yeu Yau ,

Thank you very much for the clarification about Golden Rice's readiness for use by the farmers. You are right I checked the International Rice Research Institute.

Kind regards,

Luz

Sjon Hartman

Dear Dr. Hartman,

Thank you for leaving a comment about Golden Rice and for providing a link to the Dutch documentary video.

Kind regards,

Luz

Sjon Hartman

Dear Dr. Hartman,

A very nice documentary. Thank you. I wish for an English version of this? --Luz

@Luz G. Asio I'm afraid there are only English subtitles (and others), perhaps that's good enough?

You could try the movie/documentary called Food Evolution too, but I don't think it is free. It's not really about Golden Rice though, but about misconceptions about GM technology in general.

Kind regards,

Dear Dr. Sjon Hartman ,

Thank you for the additional information. Yes, I will try to look for this movie/documentary entitled Food Evolution. --Luz

But unfortunately, it has been about 20 years after the discovery of golden rice which is not yet in real life. It's unfortunate. It is still waiting for release to the farmers field.

Dear Dr. Tofazzal Islam ,

Thank you for your relevant insights. You are completely right that after 20 long years this important invention which has the potential to help farmers is still awaiting the green light for its mass utilization. ---Luz

It is very interesting that many scientists agree with the importance of Golden rice. It is really essential for the malnourished millions of peoples but not a single country wants to be the pioneer. I do not why? - politics? It is frustrating indeed!

Dear Dr. Arif Robin ,

Thank you for your interesting answer. I also wonder why, until now, this promising technology remains on the shelf of the research centers. Now, if politics behind it? Probably yes. ---Luz

Dear Luz. As you said it Golden Rice is a GMO rice plant that was modified to produce beta-carotene (provitamin A) in its grain. I don't think that Golden Rice is a miracle technology that will help solve hunger and malnutrition, especially in developing countries?

The reason are that, 1. Provision of provitamin A could alleviate problems associated to Vit A deficiency but not alleviate other nutritional deficiencies that we see in many developing countries. Are all people in developing countries consume rice as their staple diet. Not at all!! 2. What about production and productivity of Golden rice. Is it loadable in many gynecologists to provide reasonable yield for the growers. 3. What about the eating habit of the majority. Do they prefer Golden rice than maize and wheat (especially in developing countries in Africa). 4. How do we alleviate malnutrition by just providing Golden Rice..... There needs to be a multifaceted approach to alleviate malnutrition in developing countries by increasing productivity per unit area and area of production, diversity of crop varieties, consistent supply, Agro-processing (to fortify food items) etc... 5. Above all our research should focus on "What do the consumers need, instead of what do the big companies/researchers need". We can't change the eating habit of the people overnight.

Golden rice may be a miracle of bio-fortification to synthesis of provitamin A in the endosperm of rice. This GM rice variety is popular only on paper, not in the farmers' field. How much time will take to available in public for consumption? Diversity of rice is already available to face malnutrition of the developing countries like India. Indigenous rice varieties having micro-nutrients to alleviate malnutrition by increasing productivity per unit area and area of production.

The technology used in developing Golden rice has more recently been used to develop Golden bananas and Golden potatoes. Therefore, notwithstanding all of the political delays and problems, this technology is becoming more widespread and more accessible.

Dear Sir Bekele Abebie ,

Thank you for your very good insights, which are significant inputs to the ongoing discussion about golden rice.

Dear Professor Bernard R. Glick ,

Thank you for your important inputs.