Thread by @1TeresaAnderson

By ignoring socio-economic realities facing the people that the tech is supposed to benefit, GM Golden Rice could make things much, much worse for them.

Good lessons for #climate movement on the need to assess hi-tech “solutions" from all angles.
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theguardian.com/environment/20…

There are real reasons why smallholder farmers, environmentalists & ppl who understand ag & nutrition reject GMOs & Golden Rice. I'll list a few here.

The scientists writing that @guardian article repeatedly, knowingly, willfully & shamefully ignore these.

@guardianeco
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@guardian @guardianeco a) To recoup the hundreds of millions of dollars it costs to develop a GM seed variety (Golden Rice included), companies need to dominate local markets & eliminate local seed diversity. Result: catastrophic loss of agricultural biodiversity, as seen in US, Canada, Argentina. /3

@guardian @guardianeco b) Most GM crops (tho not, for now, Golden Rice) are patented. Farmers buying GM seeds must sign Technology User Agreement contracts, forbidding them from planting the harvested seeds & obliging them to buy from the company every season- else get sued, bankrupted & gagged./4

@guardian @guardianeco c) Corporate-controlled GM monocultures leave agriculture with a disastrously narrow gene pool. But farmers need a diversity of crops & must breed new varieties to adapt to new climate challenges. GM crops threaten our best tool for adapting food systems to climate change. /5

@guardian @guardianeco d) GM Golden Rice claims to address VitA deficiency in malnourished people. But:

i) To convert the Beta Carote into VitA, you need fats in diet. Prob for malnourished ppl.

ii) To get the RDA of VitA, you’d prob need to eat a kilo (dry weight!) of Golden Rice a day. Um... /6

@guardian @guardianeco iii) You'd get more benefit from eating a vegetable.

iv) GM golden rice only benefits (in theory) if ppl eat rice & NOTHING ELSE! Doesn't solve hunger & malnutrition you IDIOTS.

More than $100,000 spent developing Golden Rice, instead of addressing poverty & malnutrition. /7

@guardian @guardianeco The renewed Golden Rice push suggests that GM industry still wants to poor-wash its products to deregulate international law and enter new markets that don’t want the stuff. Beware.

Here’s an article I wrote about this a few years ago. /8 /END

theguardian.com/global-develop…