Data from DOST’s Food and Nutrition Institute also revealed that Vitamin A deficiency prevalence among children six months to five years old had dropped from 40.1 percent to 16.9 percent.
“Instead of promoting golden rice, the government must conduct researches on the nutritional values of indigenous vegetables and fruits.”
Toxicologist Dr. Romeo Quijano said no safety testing, which includes laboratory feeding studies, has been conducted before the field testing commenced. “Problems have yet to be resolved such as sub-chronic and chronic health effects or allergenicity and toxicity.
See also: Golden rice, not the solution to Vitamin A deficiency
Farmers, scientists and advocates believe that golden rice is but a “simplistic, techno-fix solution” to the prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency and there are other sustainable measures that have no negative impact on human health and the environment.
“We are very concerned as there are news that feed testing will start this year and that the harvest will be used in these feed experiments. In China, the people have protested against the feed trials on children, prompting proponents to compensate the affected families. We do not want our people, especially our children to be used in these experiments.” – Sikwal GMO
By RONALYN V. OLEA
“Golden rice is a genetically-modified organism, meaning it now has a set of genes that never existed in rice… scientific data from independent scientists have reported unintended compositional alterations associated with genetic transformations.” – Dr. Chito Medina, Masipag
By RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat.com MANILA – A US-based scientist visiting the country said genetically-modified golden rice is not the solution to Vitamin A deficiency. The golden rice, produced in 1999 by a team of scientists, was touted as the rice that could save a million kids a year. According to the World Health Organization…