Monsanto to Give Genetically Modified Rice Away
On August 4, biotechnology company Monsanto announced it was going to give its genetically modified rice grain to developing countries royalty free. The rice is modified to express high levels of vitamin A.
Rice, a staple food in many parts of the world, is very low in vitamin A content. Vitamin A deficiency is believed to cause up to a million child deaths annually as well as up to 300,000 cases of blindness.
Monsanto also plans to make public the genome for rice which it sequenced earlier in the year. The genome database will be at a web site set up for the purpose, Rice-Research.Org.
One of the many environmental groups which has been going after Monsanto, Friends of the Earth, welcomed the move but cautioned, “We have to be careful in case this is a public relations exercise designed to gain acceptance for GM crops.”
Yes, god forbid the public actually started accepting products like rice genetically modified to provide Vitamin A to the hundred million or so children who are deficient in the vitamin. What would Friends of the Earth put on its fundraising letters then? According to a UNICEF report, if children in developing countries can just get enough vitamin A, they can increase their chance of long-term survival by up to 23%. Better that Friends of Earth prevent Monsanto from a public relations coup than give poor kids in the developing world a shot at life.
Sources:
GM rice patents given away. Alex Kirby, The BBC, August 4, 2000.
Monsanto to provide royalty-free licenses for ‘golden rice’ development’. The Associated Press, August 4, 2000.
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