News | February '10 | Golden Rice misquote reveals desperation of GM industry
The
Executive Director of Greenpeace
Africa recently made a statement about the proposed use of
GM
technology to solve the scourge of malnutrition. He was answering a
question about vitamin-A rich 'Golden' GM rice which the biotech
industry has been trying to pull out of the hat for years to
'benefit' developing countries. Coming as it does from a man on the
ground, who is very clear about what the problems are and how they
can be solved, it is a very important statement.
He wants the world to know and understand that:
“The fight against poverty and malnutrition is one I feel very strongly about and which I have been involved in my entire adult life. Our planet is fully capable of producing enough food for all of us, if only we would overcome the social, political, economic and environmental problems – the man-made problems – that stand in the way. In the meantime, we should not waste time and money with genetic engineering, which at best is only a dangerous and costly distraction.”
On the subject of GM Golden Rice in particular, he said:
“Yellow Rice, if
introduced on a large
scale,
could actually exacerbate malnutrition and undermine food security
because it encourages a diet based on a single industrial staple food
rather than increase access to the many vitamin-rich food plants with
high nutritional value. “
This
statement was made because, during
an interview for a very respectable magazine, in which he was asked
for an African position on Golden Rice, his answer that “I
don't
have a scientific background and for this reason I'd like to have
another look at all of our scientific positions. We must be certain
we are not passing up any new, good developments.” was
translated
in print into “Greenpeace must reconsider its position on
GMOs.”
The
magazine quickly printed a
correction, but the mis-quote took off with a life of its own. It
flew around the pro-GM websites with headlines like
“Greenpeace
Backing Down on GMOs”, even the US government’s
Foreign
Agricultural Service, whose mission is to enhance export
opportunities and global food security, joined the party.
There’s
an interesting tale in this
spread of misinformation which Greenpeace Africa is happy to tell.
“The fact that the GE industry has grabbed hold of this and
fabricated the story even further than the original misquote is a
telling sign that they are failing to make any significant progress
towards getting their risky products on the market. They are acting
like a sinking ship – desperately trying to stay afloat. What
they
fail to realise is that they have already hit rock bottom because
their 'solution' to food security is full of so many holes!”
OUR COMMENT
Thank you Greenpeace Africa for making the whole situation so clear. For more details of the Greenpeace, totally unchanged, position on GM crops, including Golden Rice, check out www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/genetic-engineering.
SOURCE
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Greenpeace 12.01.10
Related article: GOLDEN DISTRACTION