FACE PLANT: GMO rice trail fails miserably after mutant plants reduce crop yield

It is often claimed by advocates of genetically modified (GMO) food that genetically engineered crops are the only way to feed the growing world population and fight world hunger. However, up until now, there has not been a single study that proves GMO foods have helped to “feed the world” in any way.

On the contrary, one of the million-dollar experiments, the highly-hyped GMO Golden Rice, does the exact opposite. Instead of increasing crop production, these mutant plants have shown significant abnormalities in their growth, as well as reduced rice yield in field trials, a new study reported.

For the highly controversial project with the aim to develop a rice variety that contains high levels of vitamin A, this new finding is a serious obstacle. GMO proponents have long hoped to bring Golden Rice to the market to enrich the diet of poor farmers in rural areas with much-needed vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiencies heighten the risk of infections and blindness, among other diseases.

In the past, environmental groups such as Greenpeace have been blamed by GMO proponents for slowing the introduction of Golden Rice to the market. Are these scientists looking for a real solution or is this just a smart PR campaign? The latter might be closer to the truth. Just as any other GMO crop, Golden Rice fails miserably on all levels.

A failed attempt to breed a rice variety that produces vitamin A and addresses world hunger

After more than 20 years of research, the controversial GMO crop with the potential to save the third world from vitamin A deficiencies, blindness, and starvation fails to address its promises and is nowhere near being released onto the market, since the researchers now stumbled on yet another bump in the road.

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Researchers believe the introduction of the new gene has caused widespread genomic instability that interferes with the production of the plant’s growth hormone, resulting in weak, stunted plants and poor rice production. One might think that after 20 years of unsuccessful attempts to bring this crop to the market, researchers would give up and look for a real solution to address the issues. But somehow, they keep pushing for the release of Golden Rice to solve the problem. (RELATED: Find more news on the lunacy of failed genetic engineering projects at GeneticLunacy.com.)

The truth is big AG corporations could not care less about blindness, vitamin A levels, and starvation. A much darker truth lies behind this crop and the reason why GMO supporters have been pushing for the release of Golden Rice for commercial use. Golden Rice has been called the Trojan Horse of biotechnology corporations by anti-GMO activists because the industry hopes it will pave the way for the global approval of other, more profitable and commercially attractive GMO crops, reported the University of Washington.

It is time for the world to wake up and find a real solution to our nutrition issues. GMO crops such as Golden Rice are not an answer to the problem. Think of how glyphosate-resistant crops were going to reduce pesticide use. Today, however, we face massive resistance issues and have never used as many cancer-causing chemicals on our fields, which inevitably end up on our plates.

As stated by Natural Blaze, GMO crops, such as Golden Rice, are only making things worse while producing good PR and billion-dollar profits. Is the Golden Rice hype bubble finally going to burst? (RELATED: Learn more about the damaging effects of pesticides at Pesticides.news.)

Sources:

NaturalBlaze.com

GMWatch.org

Journals.Plos.org