Un articolo di Science parla della revoca del permesso di coltivazione commerciale del Golden rice nelle Filippine, una varietà di riso geneticamente modificata per combattere la carenza di vitamina A, diffusa nei paesi in via di sviluppo e causa di cecità e morte.

For more than 20 years activists opposed to GM crops kept Golden Rice confined to laboratories and test plots.

But in 2021, the government of the Philippines granted a permit allowing the commercial planting of Malusog Rice, a Golden Rice variety tailored for local conditions and tastes. Farmers began to grow limited amounts of the grain in 2022. Officials hoped to have the variety comprise 10% of the nation’s rice harvest within 8 years, enough to meet the needs of all vitamin A deficient households.

On 17 April, however, a Philippine Court of Appeals revoked the permit, bringing that plan to a halt. Ruling on a lawsuit brought by Greenpeace and other groups, the court concluded that in the absence of a scientific consensus on the safety of Golden Rice it should not be commercially cultivated. The nation’s constitution, the judges found, required the government to follow the so-called precautionary principle of waiting to approve new crops and activities until scientists reach a consensus that they are safe for humans and the environment.

La Corte d’Appello filippina ha inoltre riscontrato che il governo non ha istituito meccanismi per monitorare la sicurezza della coltivazione e del consumo del Golden Rice. Pertanto, la decisione blocca anche nuovi test sul campo in serre o in campi aperti, limitando la ricerca fino a quando non sarà adottato uno schema di monitoraggio approvato.

“The court decision is a catastrophe for Golden Rice in the Philippines and elsewhere,” says Ingo Potrykus, a plant biotechnologist who co-led the development of the amber colored rice while at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

For those on the other side of the dispute, the decision “is a monumental win for Filipino farmers and Filipino people,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner Wilhelmina Pelegrina said in a statement. Greenpeace joined MASIPAG, a farmers’ association, and other organizations and individuals in challenging the planting permit. “GM crops have never been proven safe,” Pelegrina asserted.