I am asking IRRI to please explain why they are sponsoring golden rice. They claim IRRI does not work for farmers, but for multinationals. They argue that, in the two decades of research in the Cordillera, IRRI has not given any substantial contribution to benefit the farmers there. They look at IRRI is an agricultural spy network. There is nothing golden about golden rice, says Von Hernandez of Greenpeace.
Environmentalists call it fool's gold.
The PR line is that it is loaded with Vitamins for malnourished Asians. When Greenpeace argued that one had to eat nine kilos of golden rice a day to get one's daily dose, IRRI softened its line, according to Hernandez, saying it is only a supplement. It is actually cheaper and one gets more nutrition if one eats vegetables and fruits than golden rice. The PR line even cites 50,000 blind children because of lack of Vitamin A. Gordon Conway, head of the Rockefeller Foundation, which provided funds for golden rice technology, is suddenly talking about balanced diet and vitamin deficiency for the poor. He is not talking about multinational windfall profits.