NOTE; For more on Golden Rice:
http://www.gmwatch.org/gm-myths/11130
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Anti-GMO rice group hits IRRI's field test
Gerry Albert
AllVoices, April 3 2011
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8672977-antigmo-rice-group-hits-irris-filed-test

Manila : Philippines Farmer-Scientist group MASIPAG joined around 200 peasants, scientists, students, ex-IRRI workers and NGOs at the front of the International Rice Research Institute, calling for its immediate closure coinciding with its 51st anniversary. Dr Chito Medina, National Coordinator of MASIPAG said that IRRI is now gearing for another Green Revolution which focuses on the use of Genetically Modified (GM) Rice as a strategy to supposedly address climate change and malnutrition.

Currently, IRRI is undertaking confined field tests of the so-called Vitamin A Rice, a genetically modified rice that produces beta carotene. This technology was said to be designed to combat vitamin A deficiency (VAD) which causes blindness among children in Asia.

According to news reports, the said GM rice will also be field tested at Philrice in Munoz, Nueva Ecija. The National Committee on Biosafety has already permitted the confined field trials and they are now waiting for the approval of the Bureau of Plant Industry for the multi-location field trials. After two cropping seasons, it is projected that the GM rice will be commercialized by 2013.

Medina however assailed the institutions promoting Vitamin A Rice, and that GM rice is the wrong medicine for the ailing farmers and the people as well.

"We should understand that Vitamin A deficiency is not a problem of insufficient food sources but of food inaccessibility due to poverty and its associated conditions. Filipino families are too poor to have access to food that would provide a balanced diet. It is also important to point out that the problem on 'hidden hunger' is exacerbated by loss of other food sources due to mono-cropping agricultural technology through the Green Revolution brought about by IRRI," Medina said.

Medina added that "GM rice such as Vitamin A Rice will only induce more poverty. GM technology is expensive, and could pose danger on peoples' health and the environment. GM rice also prevents farmers from sharing and exchanging seeds as the technology and genes that make up the GM rice is being owned by numerous corporations. What the farmers need is not expensive technology but a sustainable one that helps the environment recover and put the farmers interests, needs and aspirations in its center."

To combat GM rice and Vitamin A deficiency, the protesters are going to eat foods that are rich in Vitamin A and other nutrients such as pinakbet and ginisang gulay in a 'boodle fight' at the front of IRRI's gate.

One MASIPAG farmer said that "we feel safe if the food that we eat is not genetically modified. To do this, we in MASIPAG try to diversify our rice farms by planting vegetables, tubers and raise animals such as chickens so that we have alternative sources of food. We believe hunger can be eliminated if there is a strong political will to do so, such as fund more projects in attaining local food security and land for the farmers. We need not resort to GM food because we already have what we need. Just sing the ‘bahay kubo’ all the vegetables in the song are good and nutritious food."

Masipag today joins other peasant organizations under the RESIST AgroChemical TNCs, an affiliation of farmers, scientist groups, consumers, academe and other sectors also calling for the immediate closure of IRRI.

Gerry Albert is based in Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines, and is Anchor for Allvoices