Philippines officials are considering a request for a biosafety permit for so-called golden rice, which would allow use of the vitamin A-enriched GMO rice as food or feed and for processing, says the Cornell Alliance for Science. The biosafety permit would allow researchers to conduct human nutrition studies, the alliance said during the summer, and an application to allow cultivation of the rice in the Philippines “will be submitted in the future.”
Developed with the goal of alleviating vitamin A deficiency, “golden rice” has been under development for two decades. It is not approved in any country as a human food, as livestock feed or for open cultivation. In rice-eating South Asia, millions of people do not consume enough vitamin A, which protects against infection and disease and aids eyesight.
Separately, Independent Science News (ISN) said attempts in India to cross-breed a strain of “golden rice” with Swarna, a high-yielding Indian variety, resulted in plants with, root defects, stunted stalks, lower fertility and yields that were one-third of Swarna. “This latest research … shows that problems intrinsic to GMO breeding are what prevented researchers from developing Golden Rice suitable for commercialization,” said ISN. The Indian research “implies engineering of sufficient levels of beta carotine is disruptive to the basic metabolism of the plants.”
The International Rice Research Institute says in addition to the Philippines, applications for food and feed safety reviews have been submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Health Canada, and Food Standards Australia New Zealand. “Collectively, the data presented in these application submissions have not identified potential health and safety concerns, and support the conclusion that food and/or livestock animal feed derived from provitamin A biofortified GR2E rice is as safe and nutritious as food or feed derived from conventional rice varieties,” says IRRI on its website.
“First conceived in the 1980s and a focus of research since 1992, Golden Rice has been a lightning rod in the battle over genetically modified crops,” said Washington University in June 2016. Two Washington U scientists said a persistent challenge for researchers is to boost beta carotene in rice while maintaining yields.