Comment by makomk | Hacker News Reader

Comment by makomk | Hacker News Reader

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Golden rice is basically useless except as a PR tool to clear the way for more profitable GMOs. Its only benefit is that it might provide an alternative to vitamin A supplementation if countries were allowed to grow it. Unfortunately, it's covered by a thicket of patents from about 30 companies, and the free patent licence is a PR stunt - almost all the countries it includes can't actually grow rice. The only country that's both permitted to grow it by the patent license and has the right climate to do so is the Philippines, which is why so much of the attention on golden rice is focused there (and even they're reliant on rice imports to feed their population). Sadly for golden rice's proponents, while they were still getting it to work the government there quietly dealt with the vitamin A deficiency problem through a more low-tech and effective technique: vitamen supplements.

I'm pretty sure this is by design, by the way. The criteria for being licensed to grow golden rice is that the country grows less calories of food than it takes to support their population. Rice is so calorific that it's hard for a rice-growing country to meet this criteria, which is also why it's a popular staple food in developing countries and why rice was chosen in the first place.

This is pure anti GMO propaganda. "it's covered by a thicket of patents from about 30 companies"

The patents have been waived for humanitarian purposes. Also rice is self polinating so of little interest to seed companies. http://www.goldenrice.org/Content1-Who/who4_IP.php

"the government there quietly dealt with the vitamin A deficiency problem through a more low-tech and effective technique: vitamen supplements"

Really? 250,000–500,000 children in developing countries become blind each year owing to VAD, with the highest prevalence in Southeast Asia and Africa. I guess in your world that qualifies as effective. Even if they did solve it with supplements, wouldn't it be better to solve it already in the food, instead of spending millions a year on supplements? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_A_deficiency

"The criteria for being licensed to grow golden rice is that the country grows less calories of food than it takes to support their population."

Do you have any sources for this or are you just making it up?

"Golden rice is basically useless except as a PR tool to clear the way for more profitable GMOs"

A classic anti GMO talking point with no basis in fact. Just because corporations use genetic engineering doesn't mean it can't be used for altruistic purposes. Have you considered the possibility that people are actually trying to solve a problem that kills tens of thousands and blinds countless more every year? I guess its easier to believe in conspiracy theories.

"Do you have any sources for this or are you just making it up?"

My source for this is the page you linked: "Humanitarian use" means "Use in developing countries (low-income, food-deficit countries as defined by FAO)". The FAO's definition of a low-income, food deficit country is that they're forced to import food because they don't grow enough calories to feed their population, and their income must also be below a threshold. See http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/lifdc/en/

Though my information is slightly outdated in one area: the Phillipines are no longer on the FAO list as of this year because they're too wealthy.

"Really? 250,000–500,000 children in developing countries become blind each year owing to VAD, with the highest prevalence in Southeast Asia and Africa. I guess in your world that qualifies as effective"

Golden rice cannot help them under the current licensing regime, because most or all of those countries can't grow rice and even if the humanitarian use license did include any that could, it forbids exporting golden rice - it's strictly for internal consumption only. The page you linked makes this restriction very clear.

I emailed Adrian Dubock (via the contact email on the website) and his reply was that the philippines will still be included.

My guess is that when they started the philippines and other rice producint countries where on that list (couldn't find for previous years), but from what he said, its a "project of need and goodwill". Take away what you want from this, but I think its a case of the inventors not foreseeing these countries would not be part of that list back in the early 2000s. Syngenta have the rights to the distributions (the original inventors have the actual patents), so it might not be much of an issue to change those terms.

"if the humanitarian use license did include any that could, it forbids exporting golden rice - it's strictly for internal consumption only. The page you linked makes this restriction very clear."

So you're going from the premise that those countries dealt effectively with VAD with supplements with the one that says that Golden rice is bad because they can't export? How does a restriction on export mean that you can't enjoy the benefits of Golden Rice? The point is that poor farmers grow a rice that is a source of vitamin A, without having to grow/buy vegetables or get vitamin supplements. They don't need to export to get the benefits, they just need to eat rice with added Vitamin A. Your argument doesn't make any sense.

edit: missing word

The issue of yields is also relevant. Here is a report from 2014. The original page has been changed.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...

"While the target level of beta-carotene in the grain was attained, average yield was unfortunately lower than that from comparable local varieties already preferred by farmers."

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