Wakeup call? Rice, wheat 'being targeted' by GM crop big business. and its 'researchers'

By Bharat Dogra* 

A wake-up call before it is too late—the most important food crops—staple food of billions of people—rice and wheat are being targeted by GM crop promoting big business interests and the researchers allied to them. Their most important although undeclared goal is not just to increase profits but in addition to gain control and dominance over the world food and farming system.

In the case of rice any efforts to find any single super or golden variety is doomed to fail as the most essential characteristic of rice is its wide diversity and hence the proper scientific and nature friendly path for the progress of rice cultivation is to recognize the characteristics and needs of diverse varieties of rice and proceed on this basis to decide which varieties are best for which land or field, or for other conditions such as less or more rain. 

India’s more senior and accomplished rice scientist Dr. R.H. Richharia has written that the single most characteristic feature of the rice crop is its variability in the form of thousands of its cultivars, spread in India and in other rice growing belts of the world. 

The concept of wider adaptability does not work in the case of rice. The rice farmers like their own local varieties as they have deep knowledge regarding how to get good harvests from them even in very stressful and difficult conditions.

Ignoring this reality, the green revolution spread high yielding varieties (HYVs) with a narrow genetic base over a wide area leading to several problems including higher pest and disease susceptibility. Ignoring this too the GM technology promoters are going in for an even narrower genetic base to spread their monocultures with likely even more harmful impacts.

Hence it makes no sense to spend millions of dollars on finding a golden GM rice which can be spread over vast areas in the name of providing Vitamin A. Plenty of vegetables and fruits can meet Vitamin A needs in much more wholesome, nourishing, assured, natural and tasty ways, while providing a lot of other nutrition as well. 

There is much less certainty and stability of obtaining Vitamin A from golden rice despite all the publicity given to it, just for the sake of finding something very attractive to push the entre GM technology and package with it. Like all GM crops it can contaminate other natural varieties and their wild relatives and its safety is far from established. 

In fact lack of confirmed safety was cited as an important reason given by the Philippine Supreme Court while issuing a cease and desist order in April 2024 on the commercial propagation of GM golden rice. While its stated benefits and need have been widely questioned, its alleged risks and hazards have also been in news. Thus several organization grouped together as Asian Farmers Network Against Golden Rice/ Stop Golden Rice Alliance have stated (the complete statement can be seen under the title ‘Golden Rice is unnecessary and dangerous’ at the website of Grain):

“The increased complexity of the gene constructs of Golden Rice makes it even more hazardous than existing GM plants. Unpredictable toxic by-products can also be created and over-expression can also increase the potential toxicity of Vitamin A in the form of transgenically expressed retinoic acid and can also exacerbate unintended metabolic effects as well as instability.”

According to a recent review by Tierra Viva (article written by Dario Aranda and translation by GM Watch):

.“GM wheat has taken a step towards being grown in the United States. And although there are no known investigations into whether it is safe to eat, in Argentina the controversial flour is already being consumed…The US Department of Agriculture has approved the cultivation of GM wheat.

"The world’s first GM wheat, from the Argentinean company Bioceres and the multinational Florimond Desprez (France), is grown with the dangerous agrotoxin glufosinate ammonium [banned in the European Union]… HB4 GM wheat is an unprecedented step in the advance of agribusiness over the rights of populations. Bread, a food that is as ancient as it is central to people’s lives, is being transformed into a product with health risks.”

However, Infobae, based on information from Reuters, points out: “According to the industry group US Wheat Associates, before drought-tolerant HB4 wheat can be marketed in the United States, additional measures, including field trials, are still needed. ‘It will take years for Bioceres to complete the additional steps,’ the organisation said.”

This review says here are many reasons to reject (or at least question) GM wheat:

There is no publicly available evidence of its harmlessness for the health of the population and the environment.

The supposed ‘studies’ of the company Bioceres-Florimond Desprez are confidential. No independent scientist, nor the public, has access to these papers. 

Although it is advertised as ‘drought resistant’, there is no public evidence to support this claim. 

Available official studies show that it is less productive than conventional wheat.

The National Commission on Biotechnology (Conabia), the central body for GM approvals in Argentina, is totally dominated by the same companies that sell GMOs. 

More than 1,000 scientists from CONICET [National Scientific and Technical Research Council, an Argentine government agency] and 30 public universities have denounced the risks of GM wheat and flour.

Further, this review tells us that organisations in Latin America, Africa and Asia have denounced the harmful effects of GM wheat. In a detailed 14-page document, social movements, peasants and indigenous peoples requested the intervention of United Nations (UN) special rapporteurs because of the risks to food, health and the environment posed by Bioceres’ GMO.

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*Honorary convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. Recent books: ‘Protecting Earth for Children’ and ‘India Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food’