Campaign group Greenpeace have vowed not to disrupt field trials of 鈥済olden rice鈥�, the GM variety enriched in vitamin A that could prevent blindness in poor countries.
The announcement, at the BioVision conference on biotechnology in Lyon, France, signals a significant softening in Greenpeace鈥檚 trenchant opposition to GM food.
鈥淭rials of golden rice will not be targeted by Greenpeace campaigners,鈥� said Benedikt Haerlin, international coordinator of Greenpeace鈥檚 campaign against GMOs in the environment.
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鈥淭he golden rice is a moral challenge to our position,鈥� said Haerlin. 鈥淚t鈥檚 true there鈥檚 a different moral context depending on whether it鈥檚 an insect- or herbicide-resistant GMO, or one that serves a good purpose.鈥�
Greenpeace held a press conference in Lyon to attack what it saw as the use of golden rice by the biotechnology industry as propaganda to justify wider acceptance of GM technology.
The group displayed material from Syngenta, the multinational which holds the golden rice patents. This claims that for every month the introduction of golden rice is held up, 50,000 more children develop irreversible blindness.
鈥淭his is deplorable [propaganda], and will not lead us to ethical and unbiased discussion about this rice,鈥� said Haerlin.
Greenpeace argues that other technologies and strategies can meet the shortfall in vitamin A, such as providing two spoonfuls of palm oil fortified with the vitamin. Another strategy, sponsored by the FAO and the UNDP, is for villagers to plant vitamin A-rich fruit trees against their houses.
Ingo Potrykus, who developed golden rice at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, also condemned the industry鈥檚 attempts to use the breakthrough for propaganda purposes. 鈥淚鈥檓 not comfortable with the PR activities of industry,鈥� he said.
But he defended his position against Greenpeace, saying that the rice is only meant to complement other approaches to solve the vitamin A problem, not replace them.
鈥淭here are hundreds of millions of landless poor, and they don鈥檛 have a house to lean the fruit tree against,鈥� he said. 鈥淢any millions don鈥檛 have green vegetables, so there are limits to other solutions as well.鈥�
But Potrykus welcomed Greenpeace鈥檚 pledge not to attack field trials which must take place to ensure the rice doesn鈥檛 harm the environment. 鈥淚鈥檓 pleased Greenpeace is moving away from an absolute radical view to a more open one that things can be discussed,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e have more in common than we think, and we should not fight against each other,鈥� said Potrykus. 鈥淚鈥檓 a strong supporter of the diversified approach as well.鈥�
