“Beyer had received funding from the European Commissions 'Carotene Plus' research program, and by accepting those funds, he was required by law to give the rights to his discovery to the corporate sponsors of that program, Zeneca (now Syngenta). Beyer and Potrykus made use of 70 intellectual property rights belonging to 32 different companies and universities in the making of golden rice. They needed to establish free licences for all of these, so Syngenta and humanitarian partners in the project could use golden rice in breeding programs and to develop new crops.”
So let’s ask ourselves the question: Huge Potential Market Opportunity…or is it?
The proposed solution was to provide farmers in developing countries with golden rice seeds to test the waters. These farmers did not have to pay any royalties back to Syngenta unless they profited more than $10,000. Though this was viewed as a fail-safe for the farmers, it did eat up some land for growing other crops. We’ll side-step that issue for now. This seemingly ‘sound’ plan to eradicate vitamin A deficiency began with positive reviews, but since its inception, has run into much opposition and a growing resistance impeding market adoption.
Organizations such as Green Peace [ugh] have sounded their concerns vocally regarding the use of golden rice, and for that matter, pretty much all genetically modified foods or transgenic orgainsm. They essentially believe there are harmful side effects to humans and the external environment resulting from the removal or integration of certain factors via recombinant DNA technology. Another concern was if there were sufficient Vitamin A levels within the rice to attain any therapeutic effect. Another issue was that there had to be a level of fat inherent in the consumer’s nutritional diet in order to have a positive effect.
Most importantly, there was an issue of economics. With reports that the amount needed to consume to eradicate night blindness for a family of four is 240 Kgs. of rice which for a family of four is 480 Rs per month when the monthly average is Rs. is 750 a month. This was actually resolved by the creation of a new strain that contained much higher levels of pro-Vitamin A for similar price points.
The Agricultural Economics and Rural Development organization studied the economics behind GM crops and came up with this figure, where HA is hectares of land.
So there has been progress, but because of the media and limited acceptance in foreign markets (i.e. Europe), the growth has been relatively slow over the past decade. This is strange when projections show that golden rice could reduce the beta carotene deficiency in a very cost effective manner. The most apparent reason is failed support from media outlets and foreign health institutions. No effective support from international constituents and hesitant consumers have slowed Syngenta's success. EU makes it necessary for full documentation to be submitted to government officials, and for GM foods to have full labeling on their products. Consumers are definitely weary and so are farmers. Check out what the opponents say:
With the global and scientific opinions at a stalemate to effectively address vitamin A deficiency alternative methods should be instated, such as encouraging a varied diet and marketing cheap oral supplements. As a science student, I (Beth) believe that the future genetically modified plants will be beneficial to society in some capacity. This reality will take increased studies, continued scientific discovery and a change in the global perspective to genetically modified food.
Comments and Questions are encouraged!
-BB, SR, AL
Sources:
http://www.embo.org/documents/Qaim.ppt.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice
http://www.indiatogether.org/reports/goldenrice/newsclips.htm
http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/125/3/1157
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/System-templates/Search-results/?all=golden%20rice
http://www.wpro.who.int/NR/rdonlyres/C1BD0CF7-BA9B-4FF3-B61B-62D20DB7763F/0/TableVAD.pdf
It is all about how GM is presented. GM when properly used can allow for the decrease of insecticide and fertilizer per acre as well as increase yields and productivity.
ReplyDeleteThat's absolutely correct. But the masses don't seem to understand the economic benefit behind GM foods. Perhaps instead of emerging markets, GM producers should focus on established markets, like the US, where food trends are constantly evolving. If there is a particular benefit (health for example) and the cost remains the same for both consumers and producers...how is this not a goldmine and a great opportunity?
ReplyDeleteInteresting video. I was always not in favor of GM foods. But after seeing this video I changed my mind. Now I have a different view of GM foods.
ReplyDeleteMulti-Product Branding, also known as family branding, or corporate branding is when a company uses one brand name for all of its products within a class. The benefits of Multiproduct branding strategy is brand equity return, lower promotion costs, and growing brand awareness.
ReplyDelete