AZRA TALAT SAYEED

THE Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research had approved the Seed (Amendment) Bill 2014 last month. And there are reports that the Senate will be meeting shortly to pass it.

However, is it constitutionally possible that the Seed (Amendment) Bill 2014 can be enacted? According to Sindh Secretariat’s legislation director, no resolution from the Sindh Assembly has been passed that would allow the proposed bill to be amended by the National Assembly. As far as it is known, Khyber Pakhtunkwa, Punjab and Balochistan have also not passed any such resolution.

Since the 18th amendment, agriculture has been a provincial subject. It is clear that without such resolutions from the four provincial assemblies, the Seed (Amendment) Bill 2014 cannot be passed by the National Assembly. If the bill is passed, it will be open to legal challenges.

For the activists who are opposing the proposed bill, the future course of action will be to challenge the bill through the legislative process. Another pending bill concerns plant breeders’ rights. In Pakistan, the crux of the new seed legislation is basically to grant intellectual property protection to plant breeders and allow the introduction of genetically engineered (GE) varieties.

Critiques against the pending legislations range from the seed being considered ‘private property’ of the intellectual property right holders to the hazardous impact and environmental pollution from genetically modified plants and animals.

The pro-GMO lobby, which mostly springs from US-trained research institutions, has also provided many reasons for the legal recognition of genetically engineered (GE) seeds and crops. These will, of course, in time also include GE animals.

The crux of the new seed legislation is basically to grant intellectual property protection to plant breeders and to allow the introduction of genetically engineered varieties
Academic institutions and the private sector, especially the agro-chemical and the biotechnology sectors, have consistently claimed that GM technologies are needed to meet the food needs of the rapidly growing global population.

According to them, genetic engineering will also be able to address malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. And of course, the privatisation debate consistently promises prosperity and profits by the adoption of not only genetic engineering but all corporate agriculture interventions, including GE technologies and automated devices for higher productivity and for fighting climate change.

All of these claims are consistently challenged by environmentalists, development activists, scientists, and most importantly, small and landless farmers.

For those who oppose privatisation and free-market economies, the critical problem is not of science but the capitalist paradigm that is pushing all inventions and innovations for the sake of profit-accumulation.

Science for knowledge and science in the service of the people are not the beacons that are held in our universities or other seats of learning. Therefore, for such a lobby, it is difficult to believe the ‘prosperity’ mantra that the mainstream universities and academia are articulating.

The scepticism is valid when considering the debacle of the green revolution policies in the 1960s, the ensuing pauperisation of small and landless farmers worldwide, and its debilitating impact on the environment, loss of fertility of agricultural land, widespread extinction of animal and plant species, and rising hunger and disease.

The highly expensive agriculture technologies only push the small and marginalised producers more into debt, even though they are often orchestrated for their ability to bring prosperity to the poor. For this, the government policies are often ‘tuned’ to meet the demands of transnational corporations that will earn millions of dollars from capturing new agriculture markets.

For instance, a US Department of Agriculture supported institution — Information Systems for Biotechnology — recently published research on GM beta-carotene-enriched corn for poultry feed. For farmers in Pakistan, such feed, whether efficacious or not, is far too expensive and ends up only in decreasing their incomes.

Farmers in Pakistan and other agrarian economies are contesting GM technologies on various grounds.

First, the seeds come from genetic material that is the collective property of farmers across the world. Corporations have no right to access and use the genetic material that is not theirs.

Second, these technologies are extremely dangerous to the environment. Genetic science, especially in agriculture, is a major source of environmental pollution which could jeopardise many ecosystems that are critical for maintaining life on our beleaguered planet.

Third, these technologies are and will only further increase the pauperisation of our small and landless farmers. The reasons are the very high cost of production and privatisation, as well as the deregulation and trade liberalisation policies that are being pushed on millions of farming communities across the world.

The writer is a social activist working with small and landless farmers

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business ,July 13th, 2015

http://www.dawn.com/news/1194012/dilemma-of-the-amended-seed-act

Honorable Mr. Mian Raza Rabbani
Chairman, Senate of Pakistan
Islamabad, Pakistan

July 1, 2015

Subject: Seed (Amendment) Bill, 2014

Respected Sir:

As you are aware, the Seed (Amendment) Act, 2014 was approved in the National Assembly on March 16, 2015.

As the newly appointed Chairman, Senate, this is to draw your attention to the genuine concerns of both farmers and ordinary citizens on the proposed changes in the existing Seed Act, 1976.

You may recall that the Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT) has already sent you a letter on March 30, 2015 highlighting the likely ill-effects and un-democratic process of passing this Act. Therein, we had requested your kind attention into this important matter. It is very un-fortunate that the Senate Standing committee has approved of this proposed Act. We have apprehensions about the Senate also approving the same very soon.

We want to once again bring to your kind attention that if this Act will be passed by the Senate of Pakistan, it will be un-constitutional since the claim that a “resolution had been passed from each provincial assembly through which provinces had granted National Assembly to do the legislation in this subject matter”. The so-called resolution has been passed since Agriculture is a provincial subject after the 18th Amendment.

Mr. Chairman, please note that we had inquired from Sindh Assembly Secretariat and found that that no such resolution had been passed by the Sindh Assembly. The Director of the Legislation Department of Sindh Assembly confirmed to us when we visited him on June 29, 2015 that the Sindh Assembly did not pass any resolution in this matter.

In the light of the above mentioned argument, as a veteran legislator and constitutional expert and furthermore as someone who pioneered the 18thAmendment, we hope that you will urgently scrutinise this matter. We urge your personal interest since you are known as the real fighter for provincial autonomy.

Mr. Chairman, please also find attached the letter we sent you on March 30, 2015 in which many farmers organizations and social movements in the country had pointed out many social, technical and scientific issues, which compel us to oppose this Act. Since those issues makes it anti-farmer, anti-people and anti-Pakistan. A law on agriculture must not allow multinational corporations to capture our food and agriculture system.

We, urge you once again that in the higher interest of Pakistan this Act should not be passed.

With kind regards,

Wali Haider
Secretary
Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT)
A-1 first floor, Block-2,
Gulshan-e-Iqbal Karachi

JAMAL SHAHID

ISLAMABAD: Cotton growers’ current woes with the genetically modified (GM) Bt seeds have been traced to an agreement that a national research institute signed with a multinational biotech seed producing company in 2006 over the head of Pakistan government, according to knowledgeable sources.

“Dr Yousaf Zafar, the then director of the National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), signed the agreement with the US-based Monsanto multinational, keeping the ministries of foreign affairs, agriculture and environment and even the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in the dark,” said a senior official of the Pakistan Agriculture and Research Council (PARC).

Under the agreement, NIBGE provided seven indigenously developed cotton seed varieties to Monsanto which inserted Bt toxin into them to kill selective pests, such as bollworms. But their trial tests were run in the USA and then shipped back to Pakistan in 2011 and introduced commercially, even though the Plant Quarantine Act 1976 prohibits import of cotton seed, especially from America.

“Since these genetically modified varieties had not been tested in local environment, they bore no guarantee that they will be disease free and not harm the environment and human health in Pakistan,” said the official.

Director General, Pakistan Environment Protection Agency, Dr Muhammad Khurshid, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned him that the GM seed could be used as ‘a biological weapon’ against Pakistan’s strategic cash crop.

Many agriculture scientists contacted by Dawn were unaware of the existence of the agreement. Some described the seven GM varieties introduced in Pakistan as obsolete by now.

Four out of the seven modified indigenous cotton seed varieties – NIBGE-160, NIBGE-253, NIBGE-758 and NIBGE-4 – had not even been registered with Federal Seed Certification, and other bodies, as required under the Seed Act. Their introduction also violated the Pakistan Seed Act 1976 and the National Bio-safety Rules 2005.

Agriculture experts allege that the agreement “favoured the multinational company more than Pakistan and its farmers”. They quote clause 1.12 of the agreement that gave Monsanto the monopoly right to prepare genetically modified seeds for Pakistan.

This means local farmers not only have to purchase GM cotton seeds from the foreign company but also buy the pesticides that it alone produces, they say.

Worst, the foreign company clearly does not guarantee the success of the genetically engineered seed introduced in Pakistan.

“D&PL (Monsanto) shall not incur any liability for any act or failure to act by employees of NIBGE as a result of the performance of activities pursuant to this Agreement. NIBGE shall not incur any liability for any act or failure to act by employees of D&PL as a result of the performance of activities pursuant to this Agreement,” reads clause 1.14 of the agreement.

Dr Shahid Mansoor, the present director of NIBGE, however, defends the agreement. “Decisions taken in the past were in the national interest, keeping in view the problems of the third world countries and challenges of food security in the future,” he told Dawn.

PAEC’s Director, Agri and Biotech, Dr Nayyer Iqbal, though thinks the agreement should stand null and void after its three-year life.

However, he did not consider it a secret agreement. “It was signed to conduct experiments, which organisations often do and engaging other government offices is not necessary,” he said.

Critics of the agreement and the GM technology claim that cotton production has decreased since the introduction of Bt seeds and use of pesticides has increased. Cotton growers complain about new pests such as dusky bug and the red bugs that have emerged after Bt cotton seed arrived.

Supporters of the GM technology however claim that cotton production has decreased because farmers have switched to growing sugarcane and setting up sugar factories. They disagree that use of pesticides has increased. In any case, they argue, technology will find newer ways to fight pests.

Cotton is Pakistan’s strategic crop and back bone of economy which contribute 12 percent to GDP and engages more than 40 percent work force.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1192649/cotton-growers-woes-traced-to-secret-agreement-on-gm-seeds

In the past month, the Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research approved the Seed (Amendment) Bill, 2014, Roots for Equity has been consistently opposing the proposed Bill. There is now news that the Senate will be meeting in the next week to pass it from the Senate as well.

The basis of genetic science is faulty! It is faulty because due scientific methodologies are not being followed that would allow an unbiased scientific opinion which would merit passing or rejecting genetically modified technologies.

The problem now is not of science but the capitalist paradigm that is pushing all inventions and innovations for the sake of profit-accumulation.  Science for Knowledge, and Science in the Service of People are not the beacons that are held in our universities or other seats of learning.

On the other hand, the suffering of the poor and the downtrodden are used as marketable slogans so that these very expensive, intellectual property driven technologies are forced down the throat of our governments (though really it is not so difficult to force it down . . .  as corruption is rife in government circles) and government policies are ‘tuned’ to meet the demands of the transnational corporations that will earn millions of dollars from capturing new markets, especially agriculture markets.

Recently, studies have been propagated which highlight the use of genetically modified (GM) beta-carotene-enriched corn in poultry feed. Also, a GM wheat was also under trial. The GMO wheat was engineered with synthetic genes to mimic an aphid distress signal that was supposed to repel certain pests called aphid pests.

Both have been critiqued for various reasons. We will not discuss the scientific reasons given for their failure here, as these have been well written and we are posting them on our blog.

However, we would like to highlight other issues based on which farmers from Pakistan are contesting GM technologies.

First, the seeds are using genetic material that is the collective property of farmers across the world. Today, these huge profit-driven corporations have no right to access and use the genetic material that is not theirs.

Second, these technologies are extremely dangerous to the environment. The climate chaos (that appeared as a killer heat wave and took the lives of more than 1200 people in a matter of 3-4 days in Karachi, Pakistan) is a result of the industrial mode of production in the past 150 years or so. Genetic science especially in agriculture is a major source of environmental pollution which could unleash many form of instability in the environment jeopardizing not only the lives of millions of human-beings but many ecosystems that are critical for maintaining life on our beleaguered planet.

Third, these technologies are and will further only increase the pauperization of our small and landless farmers. There are daily reports of farmers across the world of committing suicide. The reason is only the very high cost of production and privatization, deregulation and trade liberalization policies being brutally pushed on millions of farming communities across the world. The ever-rising cost of agricultural inputs, land grabbing, mechanization and now escalating automation in agricultural production is one over-whelming reason for farmers not being able to eke out a living and suffering from malnourishment and hunger.

If we add the impact of new technologies such as hybrid and genetically modified seeds in this mix of anti-farmer policies it is no wonder that farmers have clearly refused to accept genetically modified seeds and crops as an answer to world hunger, prosperity and ludicrously climate change! There is no doubt that genetically modified sees are just the oppose.

GM beta-carotene corn: Who benefits?

http://www.gmwatch.org/news/latest-news/16211-gm-beta-carotene-corn-who-benefits

Rothamsted’s GMO aphid-repellent wheat trial a £1 million failure

http://www.gmwatch.org/news/latest-news/16264-rothamsted-s-gmo-aphid-repellent-wheat-trial-a-1-million-failure

http://www.gmwatch.org/news/latest-news/16264-rothamsted-s-gmo-aphid-repellent-wheat-trial-a-1-million-failure

Jalees Hazir

The hypocrisy of democracy knows no bounds. The surreal Seed Amendment Bill 2014 is ready to be tabled in the Senate for its final stamp of approval. The National Assembly passed it last year on the sly and last week, none other than the Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security & Research approved it. With so many pressing problems of the public that deserve their attention unaddressed, why are our parliamentarians so pushed about facilitating the import and commercialization of harmful Genetically Modified Organisms through this Bill? Who, after all, are they working for?

For whose benefit is this devious piece of legislation being pushed through the houses of parliament without public debate? Why is our government, and the parliament, so eager to open the door wide open for GMO companies, welcoming their seeds of death to pollute what’s left of our fertile fields? Why would they push down our throats something that is being rejected the world over? Don’t they know about the suicides committed by hundreds of thousand small Indian farmers who switched to GMO crops? Are they really ignorant about the lethal impact of these death-filled seeds and the chemicals that come hand in hand with them? How many of them were only misinformed and how many of them bought?

It was reported that the only member of the Senate Standing Committee who objected to the Bill was Senator Mohsin Khan Leghari. He raised most of the points that needed to be raised in the committee that approved it. So why did other members of the committee choose to ignore the valid concerns of their colleague? They didn’t even heed his common-sense appeal not to pass the Bill in haste without creating a mechanism to regulate the introduction and use of GM seeds. There’s no such mechanism in place. So why would our parliament wish to give the GMO companies a free hand to do as they please with our lives, our land and our farmers? Why didn’t Opposition benches bring forth all the damning evidence against GMOs and present the growing list of countries banishing its various essentially harmful crops from their territories?

It would be a gross understatement to term the mega business of Genetically Modified Organisms or GM seeds as controversial. It is downright evil in its impact as well as its intent. It wages a multi-front war; on the meager livelihood of small farmers, on the health of end-consumers, on food security and almost every aspect of our natural environment. The chemicals that are used to grow GMO crops, the fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, poison the earth and the water underneath. A rich diversity of plants, insects and birds are mass murdered on every GMO field. In the long run, the chemicals eventually kill the earth and every living thing that makes it fertile.

If it is allowed to exist at all, GMO-agriculture belongs within the confines of a well-insulated research lab, preferably somewhere in outer space to rule out the possibility of its frankensteins ever contaminating our natural environment. I’d put it in the dustbin of history but don’t wish go through the hassle of convincing the champions of a value-free scientific progress of its folly. Who could argue with their free-floating logic? Interestingly, if they apply their scientific minds to dissect the propaganda of GMO companies, they’d realize that it relies on pseudo-science? Obviously, you can’t call something built upon selective facts as science. You can’t bury all the harmful evidence against GMO-agriculture, quite a bit of it found in the research conducted by GMO companies themselves, and call it science. You can’t bandy about manipulated research and baseless propaganda as proof of the usefulness, harmlessness and even the need of GMO-agriculture, and call it science. If anything, GMO companies have subverted science to invade our markets and our homes.

GMO-agriculture is actually a long way from being safe enough to be taken out of the lab and introduced in our fields. Even GMO companies agree that their seeds need to go through long trial-periods in local environments before they are introduced in the market. Shouldn’t it bother us that the GMO companies have managed to illegally spread their seeds of death in our fields without conducting credible trials? Should we blame the unethical conduct of GMO companies? Or should we blame our parliamentarians who are least concerned about the existing illegal GMO-contamination of our agriculture, and who would now like to legally welcome these killer-seeds without putting in place any safeguards to protect us against their harmful onslaught?

Mouthpieces of these companies in the parliament and bureaucracy, agricultural research institutes and the media, are rewarded in myriad ways for spreading rosy lies about the GMOs and glossing over the dangers they pose. They don’t want to talk about the fallout of cultivating GMO crops on the environment, the damage caused to our health by their consumption or the security repercussions of allowing unethical multinational corporations to take over our agriculture. They don’t want to discuss the pitfalls of creating unholy monopolies that control something as essential as food and the ramifications of destroying our farmers.

GMO-agriculture would reduce the self-sufficient traditional farmer who needs only his labor, his land, and nature’s kindness to grow a variety of wholesome food, to a crippled mono-cropping consumer of GMO seeds and a range of hazardous inputs that come with the package. For the small farmers, highly-priced inputs mean heavy loans. And in the case of a bad harvest or crop failure, not rare when it comes to GMOs, it means losing the land, starvation and suicides.

Is the profit of GMO companies more important to those who claim to represent us than the safety of our food and the livelihood of millions who produce it with their toil and sweat? Are the birds and the bees dispensable to them? Do they think there’d be no price to pay for poisoning this precious land and wiping off the wealth of its many different weeds? Is this what democracy boils down to?

 The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be contacted at hazirjalees@hotmail.com

http://nation.com.pk/columns/18-Jun-2015/gmos-are-seeds-of-war

EDITORIAL

AN amendment to the Seed Act of 1976, working its way through the legislative process, could have far-reaching consequences for Pakistan’s agriculture.

The amendment will essentially open the door to genetically modified seeds, particularly in cotton which is the country’s largest crop.

It does this by providing legal cover for intellectual property rights in seeds. It is important that the legislation be enacted because Pakistan’s per acre yield in cotton has been stagnant for many years now, while India and other countries that have embraced BT cotton, have doubled their yields over a decade.

Pakistan’s cotton crop still enjoys higher yields per acre than India, but lags far behind countries like Egypt and Mexico. Stagnant yields in food and cotton will strain the country’s food self-sufficiency as well as industrial growth.

Further improvements in yields can only come from opening the door to genetically modified varieties, which is a technological innovation akin to the green revolution.

But prospects for the passage of the amendment have been dimmed by a loud chorus of protests. Successive governments have struggled with this amendment, which has been in the works since 2007, and was last brought before the National Assembly in 2010.

Of the arguments that the protesting farmer associations are advancing, there is one that is very potent and should receive high-level consideration. That argument points towards the disruptive impact that the new legislation, particularly its stress on intellectual property rights, will have on the farmers’ right to conserve, sell and exchange seeds amongst themselves.

Many of our small farmers rely on informal exchanges of seeds at sowing time, and opening the door to large private-sector seed companies must not be allowed to shut down these local markets or inhibit their operation.

Pakistan needs to avail itself of the benefits of new seed technologies to keep pace with domestic growing requirements as well as the output of its main competitors.

But it is also important that the new markets that need to be created to make use of these benefits do not shut down existing ones on which the small farmers have become very dependent.

Any disruptive impact that the amendment to the Seed Act can have on livelihoods of small farmers needs to be debated in the Senate as well, and institutional reforms should accompany the new legislation to ensure customary practices are not harmed in the course of ushering in the new technology.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2015

http://www.dawn.com/news/1174330

The enforcement of this law will also be a violation of the 18th Amendment. PHOTO: AFP/FILE

HYDERABAD: The National Assembly’s (NA) enactment of the Pakistan Amended Seed Act, 2014, has rattled the farmers’ community, who fear being flooded by foreign Genetically Modified (GM) seeds.

The NA passed the bill on March 17, although it is yet to be promulgated after the senate and the presidential approval, as the federal government appears determined to sail it through these stages.

“The parliament will approve it during next three months. The new law will allow foreign companies to invest in the seed sector of the country,” said Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Bosan.

“The law has been passed to pander to the wishes of multinationals,” said Mohammad Boota Sarwar, a former official of the Punjab Seed Corporation and an expert of locally-produced seeds.

“This can potentially create a monopoly for foreign companies who will exclusively import hybrid and GM seeds to the Pakistani market.”

Once enforced, it will be made mandatory for growers to buy seeds from a licensed company or its dealer. Moreover, the old practice by local farmers can bring penalty and even imprisonment.

“It will be an injustice to small-scale farmers who use informal seed marketing as a livelihood,” said Sarwar.

Sindh Chamber of Agriculture General Secretary Nabi Bux Sathio said the enforcement of this law will also be a violation of the 18th Amendment. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20th, 2015.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/856027/new-seed-law-might-create-foreign-monopoly/

BY AHSAN JAMIL ISD:

The GMO crop imposition by the federal government of Pakistan in term of the Seed (Amendment) Act, 2014 has instilled soreness amongst macro and micro entities of agriculture sector. The bill allows import of GM seeds and their intellectual property rights (IPR), which goes against the social practices and seed culture of Pakistani farmers. The said bill was approved by the National Assembly in this month.

The adversaries of GMO crop do express sweltering concerns about food insecurity that may lead to severe dependency on multinationals due to commercialization of GMO crops in Pakistan and their IP rights. Opponents of GMO believe that mandatory lawful procedures have not been followed in amendment of Seed Act 1976.

One of the major contentions emanated by rebels of the bill is that the federal government has not taken prior consent from provincial governments for amendment of the act that was obligatory after 18th amendment of constitution of Pakistan. According to various circles in agriculture sector this is contemptible violation of the article 142(c) of the constitution.

Furthermore, a sneak into near past paints a more ominous picture; honorable Lahore High Court (LHC) rescinded the authority of Pakistan Environmental Agency to issue BT Cotton (a genetically modified variety of cotton crop) license in its decision of May 12, 2014. Surprisingly, a certificate from National Biosafety Committee (NBC) which is a committee of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA-PAK) was made compulsory for registration of GMO crop. This has unfolded a new avenue of debate that how a certificate from an organization having no lawful authority has been made compulsory to obtain?

There are several sworn opponents of GM crops in the federal government tiers as well. Earlier this month, Mushahidullah Khan, Minister of Climate Change has said while talking to media, “It is part of my conviction that the GM food and pesticides applied on them are the main causes of diseases such as cancer and other health problems, including low fertility in males.”

The same affect has been manifested in the livestock when bt cotton seedcake was used. In 2013, at Military Farm Okara aflatoxins was found in the animals, which caused cattle mortality and non-preference to bt cotton seedcake.

Erstwhile official of Punjab Seed Corporation, Mohammad Boota Sarwar remarked about the law, “The law has been passed to gratify the multinational GM seed producing companies.”

The Pakistan Amended Seed Act, 2014 has also scampered fright amongst farmers` community and they are at serious peril due to visible hovering challenge of foreign GM seeds that will occupy the seed market and bolster multinational GM seed producing companies.

It is also noteworthy that Clause 28 (2) of Plant Quarantine Act 1976 does not allow import of cotton seed in the country more than 1 pound and this amended act contradicts the same violently thus ransacking food security and opportunities for farmers.

Highlighting the status of seed producing companies, former Governor Punjab (Chair of Joint Action Group on Cotton Seed) said that 700 Seed Companies are bogus out of 750 registered companies working in Pakistan with recognized legal status under Seed Act 1976.

The law is expected to promulgate after senate and presidential approval within few months. However, the stakeholders such as agriculture scientists, farmers still urge government to reverse the law and make necessary provisions in it, in order to attain food security and harness the inkling of farmers in particular which have already been shuddered since the law has passed. It appears as if the law is reduced to pander just multinational GM seed producing companies instead of evolving agriculture sector as a whole keeping food security intact.

http://technologytimes.pk/post.php?id=7650

Biotechnologist Dr. Swapan Datta inspects a ‘Golden Rice’ plant at the International Rice Research Institute

The scientists who invented vitamin-enriched “golden rice” will receive a humanitarian award tomorrow from the White House in Washington for developing a staple food that could save the lives of millions of people in the developing world.

Golden rice is genetically manipulated to turn on the genes for making beta-carotene, a nutritional precursor the body needs to manufacture its own vitamin A. These genes are switched off in ordinary white rice which can lead to severe vitamin A deficiency causing tens of millions of cases of blindness and death each year, mainly in South East Asia.

Environmental campaigners opposed to golden rice have organised the destruction of experimental field trials on the grounds that the GM rice represents a high-tech “quick fix” to vitamin A deficiency without addressing the underlying problems of poverty and poor nutrition.

“Genetically engineered ‘golden’ rice is environmentally irresponsible, poses risk to human health and could compromise food, nutrition and financial security,” said Greenpeace, which has led the opposition to the crop for the past two decades.

However, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the US Patent and Trademark Office have awarded the inventors of golden rice the prestigious Patents for Humanity Award, which will be presented to Adrian Dubock, who as a former scientist at the agro-chemicals company Syngenta helped to arrange for the intellectual property behind the research to be made available free of charge to developing countries.

Dr Dubock, who will accept the award in Washington, shares the prize with its two co-inventors, Professor Ingo Potrykus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and Peter Beyer of the University of Freiburg in Germany, who granted Syngenta the rights to develop the technology. The company announced in 2004 that it had no continuing interest in the commercial exploitation of golden rice but would continue to support its development as a humanitarian project.

Vitamin A deficiency is a leading killer of children globally, accounting for between 2m and 3m deaths per year, as well as causing about 500,000 cases of blindness annually. White rice is the main daily staple crop for about 3.5bn people in the world, even though it is deficient in vitamin A, which is typically found in meat and leafy vegetables.

Supporters of golden rice said that it could have been introduced a decade ago but opposition by environmentalists has held up its regulatory approval, leading to the preventable death and blindness of tens of millions of people.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-behind-golden-rice-gm-crop-to-receive-humanitarian-award-from-the-white-house-10187978.html