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Miracle food =
sustainable food?
- Do we really need transgenic
biofortification for the poor to eat
and live well?
Dr. Miriam Garvi / 葛明伊葛明伊葛明伊葛明伊博士
National Taiwan UniversityMember of the Board of Eden Foundation
• Mission: “We believe that the key to prosperity for the poor lie in underexploited, edible trees and bushes - the lost treasures of Eden. Our mission is to find those treasures and bring them to people who really need them.”
• Promotes dry, perennial and diversified farming through research and extension work in a region with 250-350 mm of annual rainfall.
• Active in Tanout, Niger since 1987.
• As of 2014, 16,000 farming households have benefited from seed packages
• In 2014, distributed seeds for 121,275 trees and bushes.
The genetic engineering technique first developed for cassava transformation in 1996
(at ETH in Switzerland and at the International Laboratory for Tropical Agricultural Biotechnology
(ILTAB) and the University of Bath
Patent on the Agrobacterium co-transformation method (technique used) held by Monsanto
Adenle et al. 2012:3
Aims of Biocassava+ (in Nigeria)
• “One daily serving of biocassava should provide
complete nutrition…” (Tammisola 2013, see also Fregene et al. 2010)
• Research has involved more than 25 independent
investigators, located at 4 continents across the world (Dr. Richard Sayre, Director of BC+ 2005-2010)
• Phase I (2006-2010): developing cassava plants with:
– 30x beta-carotene
– 4x iron
– 4x protein (however, Abhary et al. 2011 retracted)
– Reduced cyanogen content in the roots (by 80%)
– Shelf life of roots extended to 3-4 weeks (in Sayre et al. 2011)
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• Field testing started 2009,
in preparation for
selecting lead event and
for regulatory trials
• (CFTs, no biosafety laws in
place e.g. ABNE 2013)
• Developing strategies for
farmer adoption/reaching
end-users
Adenle et al. 2012:7
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Some causes of
concern:
- Results
overstated?
- Results can
be achieved
with
conventional
methods
- Resistance to
CMD lost
- Health effects
unknown
- Ecosystem
effects
- Are Africans
being used as
guinea pigs?
- Valuable
source of
renewable
bio-fuel?
(cheap source
of starch to
replace maize
in the
manufacture
of ethanol)
Adenle et al. 2012
Adenle et al. 2012
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Technology transfer and IPRs
“Can GM cassava technology be effectively transferred to African farmers?
… When participants were asked to give their opinions or evaluate methods that are put in place to ensure that GM cassava technology reaches farmers in a sustainable manner, not many of them were able to shed light on a successful technology delivery program and/or the future impact of intellectual property rights (IPRs) on GM cassava.”(Adenle et al. 2012:9)
Lessons from the Golden Rice
Discourse (Brooks 2013)
• Biofortification projects aim to develop (through upstreams research) and disseminate micro nutrient-dense crops to ‘populations at risk’ from contracting malnutrition-related diseases
• Key assumption:
– Poor families (small landholders) are limited to growing/consuming one single crop � their diet is determined by the nutritional content of this crop
• Can it be used as a substitute for pharmaceutical supplementation?
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Lessons from the Golden Rice
Discourse (Brooks 2013)
• Genetically engineering the pro-vitamin A pathway into the rice endosperm (japonica variety)
achieved in 1999 (cf. Potrykus 2001)
• Technology still in the lab became a poster child � very high expectations regarding its applications
• Propelled by a strong sense of urgency
• Virtual identity of Golden Rice in policy and public discourse contrasting sharply with the messy, experimental reality: finished product and proven technology from the very early phases
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Lessons from the Golden Rice
Discourse (Brooks 2013)
• Controversy regarding IPR: GR projects and materials transferred from a public research institution to the Syngenta company
• A ‘humanitarian license’ enabling IRRI in the Philippines and partners to backcross GR trait into indica varieties, and eventually start field testing
• Delays due to lower yields than non-GM varieties (IRRI 2014)
• Resistance from farmer/NGO activist groups (e.g. uprooting of field trials in the Philippines in August 2013)
Efficacy in controlled conditions vs.
effectiveness in real world contexts
“It’s true that human nutrition research indicates that the beta carotene in Golden Rice is readily converted into vitamin A in the body, providing encouraging evidence that eating Golden Rice could help reduce vitamin A deficiency. However, it has not yet been determined whether daily consumption of Golden Rice does improve the vitamin A status of people who are vitamin A deficient and could therefore reduce related conditions such as night blindness.”
(IRRI 2013 in Brooks 2013:83)
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Ka Bert Autor, coordinator of Sararong Inisyatiba nin Kahinwanmaan na Wasakon ang Agrokemikals na
Lasong-GMO (SIKWAL-GMO) and secretary general of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Bikol (KMB),
interviewed by MASIPAG (Farmer-Scientist Partnership for Development, March 3rd, 2015
2. Cassava leaves are a well-known source of human food (e.g. Lancaster & Brooks 1983); a leafy vegetable consumed with other foods
3. What about other plants/leafy vegetables? African Leafy Vegetables (ALVs), and the connection between the decline in their consumption and the emergence of new nutritional deficiencies (e.g. Machakaire et al. 1998)