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extracted text: TWN Biotechnology & Biosafety Series

'GOLDEN RICE'
- An Exercise in How
Not to Do Science

by Mae-Wan Ho

TWN
Third

World Network

6

'GOLDEN RICE'— An Exercise in How Not to Do Science
is published by
Third World Network
228 Macalister Road
10400 Penang, Malaysia.

copyright © Third World Network 2002

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08684 P0J-

Contents
Executive Summary
Chapter 1.

Chapter 2.

Chapter 3.

A gift-horse for the poor

1

Fallacious scientific/social rationale

2

The science and technology is standard
first generation

8

The "gene expression" - a unit of transgenic
construct

9

Uncontrollable technology and
unpredictable outcomes raise questions
on safety

13

Chapter 4.

'Golden Rice' is no technical improvement
15
and more unsafe

Conclusion

18

Executive Summary
'Golden Rice' — a genetically modified (GM) rice engineered to
produce pro-vitamin A — is a project which is being offered as
cure for widespread vitamin A deficiency in the Third World.
This report has uncovered fundamental deficiencies in all aspects,
from the scientific/social rationale to the science and technology
involved, in a project that is being promoted to salvage the morally
and financially bankrupt agricultural biotechnology industry.

The scientific/social rationalization for the project exposes a
reductionist self-serving scientific paradigm that fails to see the
world beyond its own narrow confines.
'Golden Rice' is a useless application.

Some 70 patents have already been filed on the GM genes and con
structs used in the making of 'Golden Rice'. It is a drain on public
resources and a major obstruction to the implementation of sus
tainable agriculture that can provide the real solutions to world
hunger and malnutrition.
'Golden Rice' is not a 'second generation' GM crop as has been
claimed. It involves standard first generation technology, and car
ries some of the worst features in terms of hazards to health and
biodiversity.

The project should be abandoned altogether.
Key Words: 'Golden Rice', vitamin A deficiency, Green Revolution,
sustainable science, GM technology, gene patents, GM constructs.
(Acknowledgement: ISIS is grateful to Joe Cummins for helpful
comments and for supplying key references in preparing this re
port.)

Chapter 1

A gift-horse for the poor

A report in Financial Tinies' states that the creators of 'Golden Rice'
have struck 'a ground-breaking deal' with corporate giant Astra
Zeneca to give Third World farmers free access to the grain while
allowing it to be commercially exploited in the developed world.
The company will oversee the production of stable GM line(s) and
patenting, and take the lines through field trials and commercial
approval. While farmers in developed countries will have to pay
royalties, those in the Third World earning less than US$10,000 will
not. But will Third World farmers be allowed to save the seeds for
replanting? It did not say.

This 'Golden Rice', though is not available yet, is already worth its
weight in diamonds. The project was funded from four sources of
public finance totaling US$100 million: the philanthropic
Rockefeller Foundation, whose mission is to support scientific re
search that specifically benefit the poor, the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology, the European Community Biotech Program and the
Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science.
Tire announcement failed to mention that there are already 70 pat
ent claims on the genes, DNA sequences, and gene constructs used
to make 'Golden Rice'.1
2 Will the cost of paying royalties for the
previous 70 patent claims be added to the cost of 'Golden Rice'?
1
2

Financial Times (London) May 16, 2000.
Revealed by authoritative sources within the Rockefeller Foundation.

1

Which of the royalties on the seventy-odd patents would Third
World farmers be absolved from paying?

Fallacious scientific/social rationale
Many have commented on the absurdity of offering 'Golden Rice'
as the cure for vitamin A deficiency when there are many alterna
tives, infinitely cheaper sources of vitamin A or pro-vitamin A, such
as green vegetables and unpolished rice, that are also rich in other
essential vitamins and minerals.3
To offer the poor and malnourished a high-tech 'Golden Rice' that
is tied up in multiple patents, requiring USS100 million to produce
and perhaps costing as much to develop, is worse than telling them
to eat cake.

'Golden Rice' is engineered to produce pro-vitamin A or ?-carotene (the orange coloured substance found in carrots) in the
endosperm, that is, the part of the rice grain that remains after it has
been polished.4

The scientific paper on the 'Golden Rice' project starts with a re
view of the literature to rationalize why such GM rice is needed
and of benefit to the Third World. The paper is accompanied by an
unusually long news feature in the Science magazine entitled ‘The
Green Revolution Strikes Gold',5 which reinforced the rationalization
for the project, explaining the remarkable feat of technology in
volved and stated that the scientists intend to make 'Golden Rice'
"freely available to the farmers who need it most".
3 Koechlin, F. (2000) The 'Golden Rice' — a big illusion? Third World Resurgence
#114/115, 33-35.
4 Ye, X., AI-Babili, S., Kloti, A., Zhang, J., Lucca, P., Beyer, P. and Potrykus, I. (2000).
Engineering the pro-vitamin A (?-carotene) biosynthetic pathway into (carotenoid-free)
rice endosperm. Science 287, 303-305.
5 Guerinot, M.L. (2000). The Green Revolution strikes gold. Science 287, 241-243.

2

The last sentence in this glowing report, however, gave the game
away: “One can only hope that this application of plant genetic
engineering to ameliorate human misery without regard to short
term profit will restore this technology to political acceptability."
What were the reasons for the scientists to embark on the project?
It is important to know, as these reasons may have been used to
persuade funders to support the project in the first place, and
funders ought to bear as much of the responsibility.

The first reason given is that the aleurone layer (in unpolished rice)
is usually removed by milling as it turns rancid while in storage,
especially in tropical areas; and the remaining endosperm lacks
pro-vitamin A. The researchers have tacitly admitted that at least
some varieties of unpolished rice will have pro-vitamin A.
The reason rice is milled is to prolong storage for export, and to
suit the tastes of the developed world. So why not give the poor
access to unpolished rice? A proportion of every rice harvest could
be kept unpolished and either given freely to the poor, or sold at
the cheapest prices. But the scientists have not considered that pos
sibility.
Unpolished rice is in fact part of the traditional Asian diet until the
Green Revolution when aggressive marketing of white polished
rice created a stigma for unpolished rice. However, most rural com
munities still consume unpolished rice and now that consumers
have become aware of its nutritional value, unpolished rice is be
coming much sought after.

"Predominant rice consumption", the researchers claim, promotes
vitamin A deficiency, a serious health problem in at least 26 coun
tries, including highly populated areas of Asia, Africa and Latin
America. Some 124 million children worldwide are estimated to
be vitamin A deficient. (Actually, the figures quoted in a press re

3

lease from the International Rice Research Institute are 250 million
preschool children.6)
The scientists seem to be unaware that people do not eat plain rice
if given the choice. The poor do not get enough to eat and are un
dernourished as well as malnourished.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) started a project in
1985 to deal with vitamin A deficiency using a combination of food
fortification, food supplements and general improvements in diets
by encouraging people to grow and eat a variety of green leafy
vegetables. One main discovery is that the absorption of pro-vita
min A depends on the overall nutritional status, which in turn de
pends on the diversity of the food consumed.7
"Predominant rice consumption" is most likely to be accompanied
by other dietary deficiencies. A study by the Global Environmen
tal Change Programme8 concludes that predominant consumption
of Green Revolution crops is responsible for iron deficiency in an
estimated 1.5 billion people, or a quarter of the world's popula
tion. The worst affected areas are in rice-growing regions in Asia
and South-East Asia where the Green Revolution had been most
successful in increasing crop yield.
Research institutions such as IRRI have played the key role in in
troducing Green Revolution crops to the Third World. IRRI was
founded in 1959 under an agreement forged by the Rockefeller and
Ford Foundations with the Philippine government, and its lease
for operation expires in 2003.

At its recent 40* anniversary celebration, hundreds of Filipino rice
farmers protested against IRRI for introducing GM crops, blaming
8
7
8

4

IRRI press release 22 May, "Human health and food that feeds half the world”.
See Koechlin, 2000 (note 3).
Geoffrey Lean, Independent, April 23, 2000.

IRRI, among other things, for promoting the Green Revolution and
causing massive loss of biological diversity in rice paddies through
out Asia.9

It is clear that vitamin A deficiency is accompanied by deficiencies
in iron, iodine and a host of micronutrients, all of which comes
from the substitution of a traditionally varied diet with one based
on monoculture crops of the Green Revolution.
The real cure is to re-introduce agricultural biodiversity in the many
forms of sustainable agriculture already being practiced success
fully by tens of millions of farmers all over the world.10
As the scientists know, clinical deficiency can be dealt with by pre
scription of vitamin A pills, which are affordable and immediately
available. "Oral delivery of vitamin A is problematic", they state.
Judging from the reference cited11 they might be referring to the
well-known harmful effects of vitamin A overdose. But why would
high levels of pro-vitamin A rice in a staple food that people gen
erally consume in the largest amounts in a meal not also cause
problems connected with overdose? In particular, vitamin A poi
soning has been known to result from excessive B-carotene intake
in food.12

9 Press release 4 April, Los Banos, Philippines, MASIPAG/Farmer-Scientist Partner
ship for Development.
10 See Altieri, M., Rosset, P. and Trupp, L.A. (1998). The Potential of Agroecology to
Combat Hunger in the Developing World, Institute for Food and Development Policy
Report, Oakland, California.
11 Walter, P„ Brubacher, G., and Stahelin, H. eds. (1989). Elevated Dosages of Vita
mins: Benefits and Hazards. Hans Huber, Toronto, Canada
12 Nagai,K.,Hosaka,H.,Kubo,S.,Nakabayashi,T.. Amagasaki, Y. and Nakamura. N.
(1999). Vitamin A toxicity secondary to excessive intake of yellow-green vegetables,
liver and laver. J. Hepatol 31,142-148

5

Other evidences have emerged that genetically modified 'Golden
Rice' containing pro-vitamin A will not solve the problem of mal
nutrition in developing countries.1314

Greenpeace calculated, based on the product developers' own fig
ures, that an adult would have to eat at least 12 times the normal
intake of 300 g of rice to get the daily recommended amount of
pro-vitamin A.

An adult would have to eat at least 3.7 kg dry weight of rice, i.e.
around 9 kg of cooked rice, to satisfy their daily need of vitamin A
from 'Golden Rice'. In other words, a normal daily intake of 300 g
of rice would, at best, provide 8% percent of the vitamin A needed
daily. A breast-feeding woman would have to eat at least 6.3 kg in
dry weight, converting to nearly 18 kg of cooked rice per day!

In addition, nutrition science suggests that 'Golden Rice' alone will
not greatly diminish vitamin A deficiency and associated blind
ness. The uptake and absorption of pro-vitamin A depends on many
factors, including adequate intake of proteins, vitamin E, zinc, and
fats. Pro-vitamin A has to be built up to vitamin A in the body and
this process only works in the presence of fat or oil. But poor peo
ple's diets often lack fat and other key nutrients, so pro-vitamin A
from 'Golden Rice' could be excreted undigested by many.
Finally, why is it necessary to genetic engineer rice? "Because no
rice cultivars produce [pro-vitamin A] in the endosperm,
recombinant technologies rather than conventional breeding are
required." This is the conclusion to the whole fallacious reasoning
process. It amounts to this: rice is polished, which removes pro13 "Funder admits pro-GM public relations campaign has 'gone too far'”, 15 October
2001, Greenpeace,
httpJ/www.greenpeace.org uk/contenllookup cfm?CFID=65107&CFTOKEN=2355340&ucidparam=2001 0212163231

14 ‘The myth of Golden Rice debunked', Greenpeace, http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/
MultimediaFiles/Live/FullReport/3161.pdf

6

vitamin A, therefore a hundred million dollars (most of which is
tax-payers' money) are needed to put pro-vitamin A into polished
rice.
A more likely explanation is that the geneticists are looking for fund
ing to do their research, and have constructed, as best they could, a
series of rationalizations for why they should be supported.

Neither the scientists nor the funders have looked further beyond
the technology to people's needs and aspirations, or to what the
real solutions are.

7

Chapter 2

The science and technology is standard
first generation

It took ten years to engineer B-carotene into polished rice because
rice naturally does not have the metabolic pathway to make it in
the endosperm, perhaps for good biological reasons. Immature rice
endosperm makes the early precursor, geranylgeranyl-diphosphate
(GGPP).

In order to turn GGPP into B-carotene, four metabolic reactions are
needed, and each catalyzed by a different enzyme. Enzyme 1,
phytoene synthase converts GGPP to phytoene, which is colour
less. Enzymes 2 and 3, phytoene desaturase and B-carotene
desaturase, each catalyzes the introduction of two double-bonds
into the phytoene molecule to make lycopene, which is red in col
our. Finally, Enzyme 4, lycopene B-cyclase turns lycopene into Bcarotene.
Hereafter, the enzymes will be referred to by numbers only. Thus,
a total of four enzymes have to be engineered into the rice in such
a way that the enzymes are expressed in the endosperm. Some
very complicated artificial gene constructs have to be made. The
gene constructs are made in units called 'expression cassettes'
(see Box 1).
In order to select for the plant cells that have taken up the foreign
genes and gene-constructs, 'Golden Rice' makes use of a standard
antibiotic resistance gene coding for hygromycin resistance, also
equipped with its own promoter and terminator. All these expres

8

sion cassettes have to be introduced into the rice plant cells. One
simplification available is that the reactions catalyzed by two of
the enzymes, 2 and 3, could be done by a single bacterial enzyme let's call it enzyme 2-3 - so a total of four expression cassettes have
to be introduced, one for each of three enzymes and the fourth for
the antibiotic resistance marker.
Box 1: The 'gene expression" - a unit of transgenic

construct
The gene for each enzyme never goes into a cell alone. It has to be ac
companied by a special piece of genetic material (DNA), the promoter,
which signals the cell to turn the gene on, i.e., to transcribe the DNA
gene sequence into RNA. At the end of the gene, there has to be another
signal, a terminator, to mark the RNA so that it can be translated into
protein. To target the protein to the endosperm, an extra bit of DNA, a
transit sequence, is required. The resulting expression cassette for each
gene is as follows:
[promoter]- [transit sequence) -1

gene

- [terminator]

Typically, each bit of the construct: promoter, transit sequence, gene and
terminator is from a different source. Several expression cassettes are
usually linked in series, or 'stacked' in the final construct.

Unlike natural genetic material which consists of stable combina
tions of genes that have co-existed for billions of years, artificial
constructs consist of combinations that have never existed, in bil
lions of years of evolution. Artificial gene-constructs are wellknown to be structurally unstable, which means they tend to break
and join up incorrectly, and with other bits of genetic material, re
sulting in new unpredictable combinations.
This process of breaking and joining of genetic material is referred
to as 'recombination'. The more complicated the construct, the more
it tends to break and rearrange or form new combinations. The

9

instability of the construct means that it is seldom inserted into the
plant genome in its intended form. The inserts are generally rear
ranged, with parts deleted, or repeated.
In order to make many copies of the construct and to facilitate en
try into plant cells, the construct is spliced into an artificial vector,
which is generally made from genetic parasites that live inside cells.
The artificial vector also enables the construct to be efficiently smug
gled into the plant cell and to jump into the genome of the plant
cell.

The vector used in the case of the 'Golden Rice' is the one most
widely used since the beginning of plant genetic engineering. It is
derived from the 'T-DNA', part of the tumor-inducing (Tz) plasmid
(a genetic parasite) of the soil bacterium, Agrobacterium. The Ti
plasmid naturally invades plant cells, inserting the T-DNA into the
plant cell genome, and causing the cell to develop into a plant tumor
or gall. The artificial gene construct is spliced in between the left
and right borders of the T-DNA vector.

The borders of the T-DNA are 'hotspots' for recombination, i.e.,
they have a pronounced tendency to break and join up, which is
ultimately why the vector can invade the plant's genome and carry
its hitch-hiker gene construct along with it.
Three different constructs were made. The first consists of the ex
pression cassettes of enzyme 1 from daffodils and enzyme 2-3 from
the plant bacterial pathogen, Erwinia uredovora, together with the
expression cassette of an antibiotic resistance marker gene that
codes for hygromycin resistance. Another antibiotic resistance gene
(coding for kanamycin resistance) is also present, albeit lacking a
promoter.
Hygromycin and kanamycin are both aminoglycoside antibiotics
that inhibit protein synthesis. The resistance genes originate from
bacteria and generally have specificities for more than one
10

aminoglycoside antibiotic. This first construct is the most compli
cated, but it still does not have all the required enzymes. Enzyme 1
and the hygromycin resistance gene are both equipped with a pro
moter from the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), which is espe
cially hazardous (see below).15

The second construct consists of the expression cassettes of enzyme
1 and enzyme 2-3 as in the first, but without any antibiotic resist
ance marker genes. The third construct consists of the expression
cassette of enzyme 4, again from daffodil, stacked with the
hygromycin-resistance marker-gene cassette. The strategy of sepa
rating the genes for the enzymes and antibiotic resistance marker
into two different constructs is that it overcomes some of the prob
lems of structural instability: the more cassettes stacked, the more
unstable is the construct.
Each construct was spliced into a T-DNA vector, and two transfor
mation experiments were carried out. In the first experiment, 800
immature rice embryos were inoculated with the vector contain
ing the first construct, and hygromycin was used to select for re
sistant plants that have taken up the vector, resulting in 50 GM
plants. In the second experiment, 500 immature embryos were in
oculated with a mixture of the vectors containing the second and
third construct respectively. Selection with hygromycin gave rise
to 60 GM plants that have taken up the third construct, but only
twelve of these had taken up the second construct as well.
The transformation process is well-known to be random, as there
is no way to target the foreign genes to precise locations in the
genome. There could be more than one site of insertion in a single
15 See Ho, M.W., Ryan, A. and Cummins, J. (1999). The cauliflower mosaic viral pro
moter - a recipe for disaster? Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease 11, 194-197;
Ho, M.W., Ryan, A. and Cummins, J. (2000a). Hazards of transgenic plants containing
the cauliflower mosaic viral promoter. Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease (12, 6-

cell. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, the actual inserts are likely
to be rearranged, or subject to deletions or repetitions.lh Hence, each
transformed cell will have its own distinctive pattern of insert(s),
and each GM plant, which comes from the single transformed cell,
will differ from all the rest.
Note that the GM plants from the first experiment will not have
the full complement of enzymes required to make fl-carotene, and
should give red endosperm from the lycopene present. Only the
GM plants from the second experiment, which have taken up both
vectors, would possess all the enzymes needed, and give orange
colored endosperm.

16 Reviewed by Pawlowski, W.P. and Somers, D.A. (1996). Transgene inheritance in
plants genetically engineered by microprojectile bombardment. Molecular Biotechnol
ogy 6, 17-30.

12

Chapter 3

Uncontrollable technology and
unpredictable outcomes raise questions on
safety

Unexpectedly, transgenic plants from both transformation experi
ments gave orange polished grains. Chemical analyses confirmed
that only B-carotene, in varying amounts, was found in all lines,
but no lycopene. This suggests that enzyme 4 may be present in
rice endosperm normally, or it could be induced by lycopene, to
turn all of the lycopene into ?-carotene. Lutein and zeaxanthin, two
other products derived from lycopene, were also identified in vary
ing amounts besides ?-carotene. All of these were absent from nonGM rice.

In addition, many other uncharacterized, unidentified products werefound,
which differ from one line to another. What is the nutritional value of
the other products? Are any of the known and unknown products
harmful? Without thorough chemical analyses and toxicity tests, it
is impossible to tell. This highlights the unpredictable, uncontrol
lable nature of the technology.
Molecular analyses of the GM inserts were not done in any detail.
Nevertheless, judging from the evidence presented, there are the
usual signs of deletions, rearrangements and multiple repeats of
the constructs inserted due to structural instability of the constructs
and the tendency for recombination. There is no guarantee that
any of the plants will give stable progeny in successive genera
tions.

13

The instability of GM lines is well-known,17 and is a continuing
problem for the industry. Inserted genes can lose their activities or
become lost altogether in subsequent generations. There is noth
ing in 'Golden Rice' to distinguish it from standard first genera
tion GM plants with all the well-known defects and hazards.

Reviewed by Pawlowski and Somers, 1996 (see note 16) and others.

14

Chapter 4

'Golden Rice' is no technical improvement
and more unsafe

'Golden Rice' exhibits all the undesirable, hazardous characteris
tics of existing GM plants, and in added measure on account of the
increased complexity of the constructs and the sources of genetic
material used.18

The hazards are highlighted below.
O

It is made with a combination of genes and genetic material from
viruses and bacteria, associated with diseases in plants, and from other
non-food species.

O

The gene constructs are new, and have never existed in billions of
years of evolution.

O

Unpredictable by-products have been generated due to random gene
insertion and functional interaction with host genes, which will dif
fer from one plant to another.

O

Over-expression of transgenes linked to viral promoters, such as that
from CaMV, exacerbates unintended metabolic effects as well as in
stability (see below). There are at least two CaMV promoters in each
transgenic plant of the 'Golden Rice', one of which is linked to the
antibiotic resistance marker gene.

,s See Ho, M.W. (1998,1999). Genetic Engineering Dream or Nightmare? Third World
Network, Gateway, Gill & Macmillan, Penang and Dublin; Ho et al, 1999, 2000a (note
15).

15

• The transgenic DNA is structurally unstable, leading to instability of
the GM plants in subsequent generations, multiplying unintended,
random effects.
•

Structural instability of transgenic DNA increases the likelihood of
horizontal gene transfer and recombination.

•

Instability of transgenic DNA is enhanced by the CaMV promoter,
which has a recombination hotspot,10 thereby further increasing the
potential for horizontal gene transfer.

•

The CaMV promoter is promicuous in function and works efficiently
in all plants, in green algae, yeast and E. coli.19
20 It is also active in ani
mals, including human cells?1 The spread of genes linked to this pro
moter by ordinary cross-pollination or by horizontal gene transfer
will have enormous impacts on health and biodiversity. In particular,
the hygromycin resistance gene linked to it may be able to function in
bacteria associated with infectious diseases.

•

Horizontal transfer of transgenic DNA from GM plants into soil fungi
and bacteria has been demonstrated in laboratory experiments. Re
cent evidence suggests that it has also taken place in a field-trial site
for GM sugar-beets, in which transgenic DNA persisted in the soil for
at least two years afterwards.22

•

Prof. Hans-Hinrich Kaatz from the University of Jena has just pre
sented new evidence of horizontal gene transfer within the gut of bee

19 Kohli A, Griffiths S, Palacios N, Twyman RM, Vain P, Laurie DA, Christou P. (1999).
Molecular characterization of transforming plasmid rearrangements in transgenic rice
reveals a recombination hotspot in the CaMV 35S promoter and confirms the predomi
nance of microhomology mediated recombination. The Plant Journal 17: 591-601.
20 See Kohli, et al, 1999 (note 19) also. Ho et al, 1999; 2000 (note 15).
21 Ho, M.W., Ryan A. and Cummins J. (2000b). CaMV 35S promoter fragmentation
hotspot confirmed and is active in animals. Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease
12, 189.
22 Gebhard, F. and Smalla, K. (1999). Monitoring field releases of genetically modified
sugar beets for persistence of transgenic plant DNA and horizontal gene transfer. FEMS
Microbiology Ecology 28, 261-272.

16

larvae.2324
Pollen from GM rapeseed tolerant to the herbicide glufosinate
was fed to immature bee larvae. When the microorganisms were iso
lated from the gut of the larvae and examined for the presence of the
gene conferring glufosinate resistance, it was found in some of the
bacteria as well as yeast cells.
O

All cells including those of human beings are now known to take up
genetic material.21 While natural (unmanipulated) genetic material is
simply broken down to supply energy, invasive pieces of genetic
material may jump into the genome to mutate genes. Some insertions
of foreign genetic material may also be associated with cancer.

O

Horizontal transfer of genes and constructs from the 'Golden Rice'
will spread transgenes, including antibiotic resistance genes to bacte
rial pathogens, and also has the potential to create new viruses and
bacteria associated with diseases.25

23 See Barnett, A. (2000). GM genes 'jump species barrier'. The Observer, May 28.
24 Ho, M.W., Ryan, A., Cummins, J. and Traavik, T. (2001). Slipping Through the
Regulatory Net: ‘Naked' and 'Free' Nucleic Acids. TWN Biotechnology & Biosafety
Series 5, Third World Network, Penang.
25 Ho, M.W. (2001). Horizontal Gene Transfer: Hidden Hazards of Genetic Engineer
ing. TWN Biotechnology & Biosafety Series 4, Third World Network, Penang.

17

Conclusion

In conclusion, the 'Golden Rice' project was a useless application,
a drain on public finance and a threat to health and biodiversity.
It is being promoted in order to salvage a morally as well as finan
cially bankrupt agricultural biotech industry, and is obstructing the
essential shift to sustainable agriculture that can truly improve the
health and nutrition especially of the poor in the Third World.
This project should be terminated immediately before further dam
age is done.

'Golden Rice' possesses all the usual defects of first generation
transgenic plants plus multiple copies of the CaMV promoter which
we have strongly recommended withdrawing from use on the ba
sis of scientific evidence indicating this promoter to be especially
unsafe.26

A total of 463 scientists from 56 countries are calling for a global
moratorium on the environmental releases of GMOs until and un
less they can be shown to be safe.27

26 Ho et al, 1999, 2000a,b (notes 15,25).
27 See http://www.i-sis.orq.uk

18

‘Golden Rice’ - a genetically modified rice engineered to produce
pro-vitamin A - is being offered as cure for widespread deficiency
of vitamin A in the Third World.
However, a report by the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) has
revealed fundamental deficiencies in all aspects of the ‘Golden
Rice’ project, from the scientific/social rationale to the science and
technology involved.

‘Golden Rice’ in not a ‘second generation” GM crop as has been
-claimed. It involves standard first generation technology and car
ries some of the worst features in terms of hazards to health and
biodiversity.

The author, the director of ISIS, argues it is absurd to offer ‘Golden
Rice’ as the answer to cure vitamin A deficiency when there are
many cheaper alternative sources of vitamin A or pro-vitamin A,
such as green vegetables and unpolished rice, that are rich in other
essential vitamins and minerals
Dr Mae-Wan Ho is the co-founder and director of the Institute of Sci
ence in Society, a non-profit organization that promotes critical public
understanding of issues in science and technology, especially with re
gards to social accountability, ethical implications and sustainability. Since
1994, she has been scientific advisor to the Third World Network. Dr Ho
is also well known in the debate on genetic engineering and biosafety,
and has raised the issue at the UN, the World Bank and in the European
Parliament, in her writings (over 250 works), lectures, and contributions
to the media around the world.

BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOSAFETY SERIES
is a series of papers published by the Third World Network. It is
aimed at deepening public understanding of ecological and safety
aspects of new biotechnologies, especially genetic engineering.

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