Protecting the Staff of Life

[Guest guest]

Protecting the Staff of Life

Gene-Altered Rice Coming

By Alex Jack

 

http://www.cybermacro.com/articles27.html

 

Rice, wheat, and other grains are a spiritual manifestation. They have nurtured

and sustained humanity for countless generations.

 

The Upanishads, Greek mythology, Bible, I Ching, Koran, and writings of

Jefferson, Thoreau, Gandhi, Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) and other

great teachers, sages, and prophets extol the benefits of a diet centered on

whole grains and other predominantly vegetable-quality foods.

 

Soon, genetically engineered (GE) rice and wheat will move invisibly into the

marketplace.

 

Nearly six billion people, virtually the entire planet, eat one or more of these

grains every day, and the biotech industry is determined to replace natural and

organic varieties with new “improved” GE strains. As 2001 began, the race to

release GE grains intensified:

 

• The USDA approved commercial production of the first two varieties of rice

developed from a “fast-paced biotechnological selection process” called

marker-assisted selection. Cadet and Jacinto, designed to improve the texture of

cooked white rice, are being developed at the Agricultural Research Service in

Beaumont, Texas. Biotech methods are used to identify genes that are then

enhanced through conventional breeding.

 

• In Switzerland, Syngenta, the world’s largest biotech company, announced that

it has completed mapping of the rice genome, the first food crop to be decoded.

The information will allow patenting of individual genes and the creation of

many new artificial varieties.

 

• In the Philippines, “Golden Rice,” a GE rice designed to boost vitamin A and

“feed the hungry,” began the first Asian field trials.

 

• Monsanto began the first field trials of GE wheat in North Dakota, South

Dakota, Montana, and Minnesota. The nation’s largest biotech company announced

that commercial production of GE Roundup Ready Rice and Roundup Ready Wheat

would begin in 2003.

 

• Aventis CropScience, the company responsible for the StarLink corn disaster,

plans to release Liberty Link Rice in 2003. This GE variety is modified for

tolerance to the pesticide glufosinate-ammonium.

 

Altogether several dozen varieties of artificial rice, wheat, and barley are in

development in the U.S., Japan, China, Italy, France, and other countries. Until

now, the biotech agriculture industry has focused on designing GE crops that are

used primarily to feed livestock. About 50% of America’s soybeans, 35% of its

corn, and 40% of its cotton are currently genetically engineered.

 

Like other GE foods, the long-term effects of altered grains on human health and

the environment have not been tested. Since no labeling is required, consumers

in the United States have no way of knowing what they are buying and eating or

the potential hazards to their families.

 

Natural grains produced in America and other countries (both organically and

conventionally grown) would also be at high risk from “genetic pollution,” the

drift of pollen from nearby GE fields that could contaminate ordinary crops.

 

The Risks of GE Rice

 

Already there is a growing body of scientific and medical evidence on the

dangers and possible future hazards of GE foods, especially rice, which will be

the first to be released:

 

1. Reduced Nutrition: Hailed on the cover of Time magazine last summer as the

savior of the world’s diseased and impoverished children, “Golden Rice” has

become the poster crop of the biotech industry. Spliced with foreign genes and

bacterium that increase vitamin A, it is designed to alleviate blindness in

developing countries where Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) affects millions of

people. However, the vitamin A in GE rice will be unavailable to most people it

is designed to help. “Nutrition science

 

.. . . suggests that golden rice alone will not greatly diminish vitamin A

deficiency and associated blindness,” Dr. Marion Nestle, chairman of the

department of nutrition and food studies at New York University, warned in a

letter to the New York Times. “Conversion of beta carotene to vitamin A, and

transport in the body to the tissues that use vitamin A, require diets adequate

in fat and protein. People whose diets lack these nutrients or who have

intestinal diarrheal diseases—common in developing countries—cannot obtain

vitamin A from golden rice.”

 

2. Increased Vitamin A Toxicity: Rice engineered to be higher in vitamin A could

lead to vitamin A toxicity, which is associated with abdominal pain, nausea,

vomiting, dizziness, bone and joint pain, hair loss, dryness and fissures of the

lips, weight loss, hepatosplenomegaly, and other symptoms. GE rice could be

especially harmful to

 

pregnant women, young children, people with liver disease, diabetics, and those

with thyroid conditions.

 

3. Increased Toxins, Allergens, and Disease: Glyphosate, the active ingredient

in some types of GE rice, is the third major cause of pesticide-related

illnesses among agricultural workers. According to the Northwest Coalition for

Alternatives to Pesticide Use, glyphosate can cause eye and skin irritation,

headache, nausea, elevated blood pressure, heart palpitations, and farmers

exposed to glyphosate herbicides are at higher risk of miscarriages, premature

birth, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

 

4. Increased Dependence on White Rice: The new GE “Golden Rice” is specifically

designed to concentrate beta-carotene in the endosperm of the plant that is

retained after the fiber-rich bran and germ are removed in milling. In brief,

the modified rice is designed to reinforce eating nutritionally deficient

polished white rice as a daily staple rather than nutritious brown rice that

contains some naturally occurring carotenoids that are lost in polishing.

 

5. Contamination of Organic and Conventional Crops: Like other altered crops, GE

rice may release engineered pollen, seed, pesticides, toxins, bacteria, viruses,

or other organisms into the environment that can crossbreed with or contaminate

ordinary crops. To date, thousands of acres of organic crops, as well as

numerous beehives, have been contaminated by GE corn or rapeseed pollen that has

drifted up to six miles. In a report sponsored by the British government,

“Organic Farming and Gene Transfer from Genetically Modified Crops,” researchers

concluded that contamination was inevitable: “Once GM crops are released they,

like all crops, cannot be completely contained. The same principle is true for

spray or fertilizer drift from one farming system to another. There has always

been the possibility of hybridization and seed mixing between organic crops and

conventional crops.” In Canada, many farmers have given up growing organic

canola because it is too risky and they fear losing

organic certification if any trace of GEOs are found in their produce. “The

whole issue of genetic pollution is one of the only things that can seriously

damage the organic movement—if not kill it,” says Stewart Wells, an organic

farmer and Saskatchewan director of the National Farmers Union.

 

6. Increased Water Pollution: The introduction of high-yielding GE rice strains

will involve a shift from water conserving agricultural methods to water

intensive production methods since high yielding rice varieties are highly water

demanding, leading to further burden on ground water or intensive irrigation

from large dams and associated problems with water-logging and salinization.

 

7. Threat to Monarch Butterflies and Other Wildlife: Some new GE rice contains

Bt, the engineered pesticide that is linked with killing Monarch butterflies and

other beneficial insects.

 

8. Increased Pesticides and Chemical Inputs: Like corn, GE rice may require more

pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and other sprays. According to a former

director of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Agriculture, “Clearly Bt

corn has not reduced insecticide use, and indeed probably has and will continue

to increase it.”

 

9. Emergence of Disease-Resistant Pests: New strains of bacteria, viruses, and

other organisms may arise. Rice containing GE Bt could produce new strains of

Bt-resistant bacteria that will spread to other organic and conventional farms

and crops. Naturally occurring Bt—a less toxic variety than GE Bt—is the most

widely used natural pesticide. The organic foods community is worried that its

industry could be damaged or destroyed if natural Bt is rendered ineffective.

 

10. Loss of Biodiversity: The ecological impact on soil organisms and other

organisms dependent on rice in the food chain may result in reduced biodiversity

and the potential for disease and pest vulnerability.

 

11. Emergence of New Herbicide-Resistant Weeds: Conceding that some concerns

about GE rice are valid, Dr. Ren Wang, deputy director-general for research of

the International Rice Research Institute and a strong supporter of

biotechnology, said that attempts to develop an altered rice that is

herbicide-resistant may result in the genes becoming trans-shifted to non-rice

weed species, creating a “superweed” and that safeguards were required.

 

12. New Viral Diseases: The viral promoter in “Golden Rice” and most other GE

crops is derived from the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV). This promoter has a

recombination hotspot that is apt to break and join with other genetic material,

threatening to spread and introduce infectious viruses to other species.

 

13. Threat to Sustainable Agriculture: In the first scientific audit of “Golden

Rice,” the Institute of Science in Society, based in Britain, uncovered

“fundamental deficiencies in all aspects, from the scientific/social rationale

to the science and technology involved.” It called the new GE rice “a drain on

public resources and a major obstruction to the implementation of sustainable

agriculture than can provide the real solutions to world hunger and

malnutrition.”

 

14. Unforeseen Health and Environmental Risks: While the new GE rice strains may

produce higher yields in the short run and help prevent or relief specific

illnesses, they could also create unforeseen health or environmental risks whose

impact may not be measured until many years or generations later.

 

Around the planet, an enlightened citizenry is awakening to this threat and

taking steps to preserve natural seeds and crops—the foundation for our

physical, mental, and spiritual health and well-being.

 

-

 

Alex Jack teaches at the Kushi Institute in western Massachusetts and is

president of Amberwaves, a nonprofit educational network leading the campaign to

save brown rice, whole wheat, and other essential foods. His books include The

Cancer-Prevention Diet (with Michio Kushi) and Imagine a World Without Monarch

Butterflies with a foreword by Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, sponsor of the GE

Food Right to Know Act in Congress. This article summarizes material in his new

book Saving Organic Rice featuring articles by Dr. Vandana Shiva, Dr. Mae-Wan

Ho, Paul Hawken, and other scientists and environmentalists. It is available for

$6.95 plus $3.00 postage from Amberwaves, PO Box 487, Becket, MA 01223.

 

Click To Become Involved in Saving Organic Rice, Wheat, and other Essential

Foods

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjoguest

DietaryTipsForHBP

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

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