CORRECTION Re: Golden Rice push hits more hurdles

From Hartmut Mayer of GENET - European NGO Network on Genetic Engineering - www.genet-info.org

For the original see: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=5897
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Dear GENET-news readers,

I have not read the article "Philippines Faces Hurdles in Transgenic Rice Push" carefully enough to recognize that it is about PRRI {Philippines Rice Research Institute - part of IRRI] and the bacterial leaf blight rice and not about IRRI and Golden Rice. Thanks to those who have alerted me!

Please discard the GENET-news "2-Plants: IRRI developed Golden Rice in a commercially not viable variety" from yesterday. Nevertheless, I still attach the quote from an article by Jorge E. Mayer which also valid for other GE rice varieties than Golden Rice.

Yours,
Hartmut Meyer
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"'Unfortunately, the variety in which the transgenic gene was placed is not very popular among the country's consumers, farmers and millers,' Sebastian [executive director of IRRI] told Reuters in an interview, referring to the IR-72 variety. 'It's not commercially viable. We are trying to find other varieties. You cannot do genetic transformation in every variety. Our scientists have tried transforming other popular varieties but they have so far not been as successful as the IR-72 variety.'"
Sambit Mohanty, Reuters, 31 Oct 2005

"Transgenes, as opposed to many conventionally obtained traits, are mostly monogenic and are easy to breed into any locally adapted variety. The Golden Rice trait, for example, can be introduced into any local variety within two years, thus making it easy to preserve the cultivation of traditional varieties with added value."
Jorge E. Mayer, BioScience 55 (9): 726-727, Sep 2005
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