GM Rice: Advantages & Disadvantages

Rice is the world's second most important cereal crop after wheat, and also the staple diet for two of the six billion people on the planet. Many people in developing countries today rely on rice, both for food and to make a living from farming. Although genetically modified rice is getting more and more popular nowadays because of its great benefits contributed to humans, it does have some negative effects which we all should be concerned about.

Vitamin A deficiency is the world's major cause of blindness, and it affects 250 million children. This vitamin can be found in butter, milk, liver, kidney, green and yellow vegetables. Conventional rice does not have very much of this vitamin. Today, genetically modified rice offers beta-carotene, a metabolic precursor to vitamin A. The most well known example of GM rice is the Golden Rice. It was called Golden Rice because of its yellow color (1).

According to Mike Bromley in his article "The benefits and Risks of GM Rice," besides having higher level of Vitamin A, genetically modified rice also possesses higher content of iron and zinc. Normal rice has 10 parts of iron in a million. The new GM rice has been modified such that it has an additional 110% iron at 21 parts of iron in a million. This benefit would impact mainly third-world countries. Red blood cells have a short life of about 120 days. Bone marrow recycles most of the iron in the red blood cells in the making of new red blood cells. However, some of the iron is lost and needs to be replaced by eating foods rich in iron, such as red meat, chicken, and eggs. For the most part these foods are not readily available in the third world.

The main difference between normal rice and the genetically modified rice is in the level of pesticides farmers use with them. The quantity and cost of pesticides applied to conventional rice is 8 to 10 times as high as that applied to the insect-resistant genetically modified rice. In short, use of the genetically modified rice enables the farmers to reduce pesticide use by 15 pounds per acre, an 80% reduction compared with pesticide use by farmers producing normal rice. Among the farmers that produce conventional rice, 8.3 percent in 2002 and 3.0 percent in 2003 reported adverse health affects related to pesticide use (2). The genetically modified rice that requires lower levels of pesticide use, decreases the risk of having health affects related to pesticide use for the farmers.

Genetically modified rice has also been proven to be very beneficial to environment as it is modified to increase "the capacity for atmospheric carbon dioxide absorption during photosynthesis…It is essentially 33% more efficient at absorbing and utilizing carbon dioxide" (1). This increase in absorption will decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, thus reducing the Greenhouse effect.

Another tremendous benefit of genetic modified rice is that it increases the rice yield in the world. Survey data shows that there is a difference in yields between the genetically modified and non-genetically modified rice varieties. For example, yields of the genetically modified Xianyou 63 variety is 9 percent higher than those of conventional rice varieties. This increased yield would greatly benefit the farmers by increasing their profit. The increase of rice yield is also necessary as the world's population is predicted to grow nearly 50% by the year 2050 (2).

Despite all the benefits of genetically modified rice, there are in fact some potential problems that we should be aware of. Greenpeace International, an environmental organization that against genetic modified rice, said that genetically modified rice contains Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) strain which is not approved for human consumption. These genes are from the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacteria that are often introduced to crops to help them fight off insects by producing toxins to the crops (3).

Since rice is eaten in large quantity in third-world countries, genetically modified rice with higher levels of Vitamin A could eventually lead to excessive intake of this vitamin causing hypervitaminosis or Vitamin A toxicity, which can lead to vomiting, dizziness and also incomplete formation of the cranial bone of a fetus (4).

Besides, usually large companies in the western countries have the means to develop genetic modified rice, giving rise to some critics fear that poor people will be too dependent on rich western countries. Some opponents of genetic modified rice also fear that large companies may come to own the right for all the good rice varieties. This will eventually harm the other small companies that produce normal rice (5).

Apart from these, currently some other big risks to concern about are whether it has a direct effect such as toxicity in rice, or an indirect effect to soil organism. Also, it could perhaps negatively impact the biodiversity, and cause diseases due to the alteration of the rice genome.

In short, genetically modified rice has generally increased the nutritional value, the environmental benefits, the rice yield and the profit of farmers. However, at the same time it produces toxicity, causes a monopoly of large rice companies mostly in the western countries and contains bacterial genes which are not approved for human consumption. In conclusion, although genetic modified rice has highly contributed to the rice producers and consumers, as well as the environment, the risk and danger are still there. Therefore, the existence and development of genetic modified rice is still debatable today.

References:

1. Mike Bromley, "The Benefits and Risks of GM Rice" http://www.geocities.com/xhcaulfieldx/Home.html. November 2006.
2. Jiao Hepeng. "GM Rice May Soon be Commercialized." http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-01/27/content_412646.htm. November 2006
3. "GM Rice Legal Challenge Issued." Friends of The Earth. http://www.foe.co.uk/ resource/press_releases/eu_clamps_down_on_gm_rice_23082006.html. November 2006
4. "Rice Wars." Institute of Science in Society. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/CPVPIGMR.php. November 2006
5. "4 Examples of Genetically Modified Crops." Bionet. http://www.bionetonline.org/English/Content/ff_cont3.htm. November 2006

December 2006