Synopsis: We have previously reported on the difficulties experienced by the Gates-funded Golden Rice project in producing a GMO Golden Rice with adequate yield and agronomic properties. Nevertheless, as widely reported, a version of Golden Rice has recently been permitted for importation by Canada, Australia/New Zealand and now the US. Altogether unnoticed, however, is that the version of Golden Rice approved, called GR2E, contains very little of the key ingredient, beta-carotene. Worse, even the little that it does contain rapidly degrades during storage. For these reasons, FDA has told its developer (the International Rice Research Institute) that no health claims may be based on it. All-told, it seems that the trade-off experienced by the Golden Rice project between beta-carotene production and yield in its various GMO rices has not been resolved.
The biotech industry and its supporters have promoted GMO Golden Rice for decades as an urgently needed solution to vitamin A deficiency.
But, in a surprising twist, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concluded its consultation process on Golden Rice by informing its current developers, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), that Golden Rice does not meet the nutritional requirements to make a health claim.
GMO Golden Rice Offers No Nutritional Benefits Says FDA, Allison Wilson, PhD and Jonathan Latham, PhD, Independent Science News, Mon 4th June 2018
