The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has been closely following the continuing discussion and debate in the Philippine media over the development of pro-Vitamin A enriched Golden Rice, and other genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture.

Contrary to some reports in the media, IRRI does not seek to blindly promote biotechnology. However, the Institute is keenly interested in objectively evaluating any new technology that will be freely available to help improve the lives of poor rice farmers and consumers in safe and sustainable ways.

IRRI also welcomes recent efforts by different groups to "stick to the facts" concerning Golden Rice.

For the record, IRRI does not consider Golden Rice a quick fix or silver bullet for the problem of Vitamin A deficiency in the developing world. But surely any new idea that could allow us to better deal with such difficult problems as vitamin deficiency among the poor deserves to be fully investigated.

In its effort to find out the facts on Golden Rice, IRRI will be focusing just a small portion of its financial and physical resources on the new grain - two full-time scientists out of a staff of over 800 and one million dollars ($1 million) in funding from USAID out of a total budget of 30 million dollars ($30 million) plus.

In addition to this project, the Institute is working in a wide range of other related biotechnology areas such as functional genomics, and the development of useful traits such as improved drought and salinity resistance.

Although we have submitted requests to the Philippine government to do so, IRRI is presently conducting no field trials of any GM rice anywhere in the Philippines. It was for this reason, we noted a quote by the new Secretary of Agriculture Leonardo Q. Montemayor under the headline "Montemayor open to commercialization of GM crops" as saying: "...I am not for an outright ban on these products" (BusinessWorld, Feb. 14, 2001, p. 6).

If anyone has any questions or concerns about IRRI's work on GM rice they should feel free to contact me at the Institute or my colleague Sylvia Inciong. This is because IRRI is committed to a policy of openness and transparency in its research and welcomes all those interested in rice and its work.

DUNCAN MACINTOSH
Spokesperson, IRRI

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