Subj: Greenpeace on golden Rice PR Date: 01-02-09 17:02:33 EST From: [log in to unmask] (Jim Diamond) Sender: [log in to unmask] (Biotech Forum) Reply-to: [log in to unmask] (Biotech Forum) To: [log in to unmask] Greenpeace demands false biotech advertising be removed from TV Posted: 02/09/2001 by [log in to unmask] =========================== 9 February 2001 (Toronto) Greenpeace is filing a complaint with Advertising Standards Canada demanding that misleading biotech industry advertisements be withdrawn from broadcast. The Council for Biotech Information's ads say that "Golden rice could help prevent blindness and infection in millions of children" but recent scientific evidence shows that this is not the case. A Greenpeace report, released today, shows that the genetically engineered (GE) rice provides so little vitamin A that an adult would have to eat 10 pounds (dry weight) of rice a day to meet recommended allowances. A two year old child would need to eat seven pounds per day. "It is shameful that the biotech industry is using starving children to promote a dubious product," said Michael Khoo of Greenpeace. "This isn't about solving childhood blindness, it's about solving biotech's public relations problem." In a recent letter to Greenpeace, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation, which initially funded development of the GE rice, expressed his concern that the biotech industry's promotion of vitamin A rice has "gone too far" and is misleading the public and media. He adds that "we do not consider golden rice the solution to the Vitamin A deficiency problem." (original release shortened; posted by Jim Diamond) COMMENT: In case you've missed the allegations, many others including Vandana Shiva have claimed that the amount of beta carotene in the "golden rice" is insufficient to have practical effects. The fact that a balanced diet is needed even to absorb beta carotene and convert it into Vitamin A has also been made. Although Vitamin A deficiency is a very serious problem, there are low tech solutions readily available, and they would provide even further benefits (since balanced diets have benefits beyond just vitamin A replacement). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT to [log in to unmask]