After 24 years of research and millions of dollars spent, GMO Golden Rice is still a failure and a pipedream. As the GMO industry seeks to expand its grip over the global food system, it has targeted developing countries and the problems they face in crop production. Drought and pest damage are two issues that Monsanto and its cohorts see as opportunities for unleashing their patented, genetically modified (GM) crops.

Nutrient deficiency is another problem in developing countries that GMO corporations insist should be addressed with their products. One high-profile example is vitamin A deficiency, which especially affects the Global South, increasing risks of infection, disease and other ailments such as blindness.Golden Rice was supposed to be the GMO industry’s great solution.

Biotech proponents have tried to blame their failure on activists however,a new study has found that GMO activists are not to blame for scientific challenges slowing the introduction of this genetically engineered rice that is claimed to be Vitamin A enhanced. Scientists can’t get the rice to perform in the real world. Just think about how many children could have been saved from vitamin A deficiency if those many millions of dollars had been spent, instead, on providing them with the Vitamin A rich foods that nature has given us.

[pullquote]how many children could have been saved from vitamin A deficiency if those many millions of dollars had been spent, instead, on providing them with the Vitamin A rich foods that nature has given us.[/pullquote]

First conceived in the 1980s and a focus of research since 1992, Golden Rice has been a lightning rod in the battle over genetically modified crops.

GMO advocates have long touted the innovation as a practical way to provide poor farmers in remote areas with a subsistence crop capable of adding much-needed Vitamin A to local diets. A problem in many poor countries,Vitamin A deficiencies leave millions at high risk for infection, diseases and other maladies, such as blindness.It is still unknown if the beta carotene in Golden Rice can even be converted to Vitamin A in the bodies of badly undernourished children. There also has been little research on how well the beta carotene in Golden Rice will hold up when stored for long periods between harvest seasons, or when cooked using traditional methods common in remote rural locations.

Some anti-GMO groups view Golden Rice as an over-hyped Trojan Horse that biotechnology corporations and their allies hope will pave the way for the global approval of other more profitable GMO crops.

Washington University anthropologist Glenn Stone,has studied rice cultivation and research in the Philippines since 2013.
“The rice simply has not been successful in test plots of the rice breeding institutes in the Philippines, where the leading research is being done,” Stone said. “It has not even been submitted for approval to the regulatory agency, the Philippine Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).”

“A few months ago, the Philippine Supreme Court did issue a temporary suspension of GMO crop trials,” Stone said. “Depending on how long it lasts, the suspension could definitely impact GMO crop development. But it’s hard to blame the lack of success with Golden Rice on this recent action.”

Source:Washington University
Free thought project

SOUTHERN Province permanent secretary Sibanze Simuchoba says Hillcrest
Technical Secondary School management should be taken to task for
having authorised the movement of a school bus at night which resulted
in an accident that killed five pupils and a teacher on the
Livingstone Road in Choma on Friday night.

All the 10 pupils including a teacher who sustained injuries and
admitted to Choma General Hospital for medical treatment after the
accident have all been discharged.

The pupils were heading to Canisius Secondary School in Monze to
compete in the Coca Cola Schools Championship which was supposed to
have started on Saturday but has since been cancelled.

Mr Simuchoba described the death of the pupils as an unfortunate as it
could have been prevented if the school management had stuck to the
rule that bans movement of school buses at night.

He said parents entrusted the School with custody of their children
and handing over dead bodies to them should not have been so.

“School buses shouldn’t move at night and the school authorities will
be disciplined for having authorised the movement of a bus night, as
this will be a lesson for the future.

Parents send children to school and now giving them back bodies, this
shouldn’t be the case it could have been prevented,” he said.

He said such tournaments are planned the school bus could have started
off earlier during the day or on Saturday morning rather than
subjecting the pupils to travel at night which resulted in an
accident.

Choma General Hospital medical superintendent Abel Shawa said all the
injured victims were discharged yesterday.

“ All the pupils including the teacher have all been discharged, while
postmortem for the five bodies has not been done and the bodies were
still at Choma Hospital mortuary,” Dr Shawa said.

Rainbow Party Presidential candidate Wynter Kabimba has promised to improve the working conditions for workers in the tourism industry.

Mr. Kabimba says the Rainbow Party is saddened by the exploitation of workers by investors in the tourism industry.

He says under the Rainbow Party leadership, no investor will be allowed to exploit workers by paying what he terms as slave wages.

And Mr. Kabimba has also says once voted into office, the Rainbow Party will give bursaries to all eligible Zambians in colleges and universities.

He has also promised that the Rainbow Party will tackle corruption and equitably distribute development to all the ten provinces of Zambia.

Mr. Kabimba said this in Livingstone when he addressed two political rallies in Maramba and Dambwa Site and Service, where he also introduced Rainbow Party candidates in Livingstone to the electorates.

Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) President Dr. Nevers Sekwila Mumba wishes to convey heartfelt condolences, first of all to the families of the six Hillcrest Technical Secondary School students who perished in a tragic road traffic accident along the Livingstone – Choma road during the night of Friday 17th June, 2016. He further wishes to convey sincere condolences to the school administration and entire student body on the tragic loss of these young lives.

Hillcrest Technical Secondary School is very dear to Dr. Mumba as he was a student at this prestigious school from 1974 to 1978 for his Form 1 to Form 5 secondary school education and is aware that students who qualify to enter this school are among the cream from around the country. It is for this reason that this loss assumes such gravity as it has robbed the country of potential future leaders of distinction.

Dr. Mumba joins all Zambians in mourning these students and pray for God’s comfort for their kith and kin as they pass through this dark cloud and may the souls of the dear departed rest in peace.

Prayers and thoughts continue to be with the injured students and wish all of them God’s strength and quick recovery.

The Green Party says it has started translating into various local languages its message of encouraging people to know the hidden economic and medicinal value of marijuana, especially the people living in remote parts of the country.

Green Party president Peter Sinkamba said there was nothing wrong about the use of marijuana in generating wealth for the people and the country at large because of its high economic worth.
Mr Sinkamba said marijuana could transform the wealth of the nation once it was legalised because growing it on a commercial basis was big business.

He said his party had observed that marijuana in Zambia was mainly grown in rural parts of the country on a small and medium scale by the alleged illegitimate farmers of lack of information on the drug which was currently considered as an illegal drug.

Mr Sinkamba said the process of translating the information on marijuana into the country’s main local languages was progressing well because the people received the move with both hands.

He said it was unfortunate that the people in the country had allegedly been ignorant about the economic benefits of the drug which could change their lives if it was legalised.

Mr Sinkamba said the Green Party would continue to campaign on the foundation of the marijuana because the plant was called the Green Gold which had the capacity of creating thousands and thousands of jobs in different farmlands in the country to the women and the young people.

He said once the Green Party was voted into power, it would not ban the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC).

Mr Sinkamba, however, said the DEC would be transformed into a drug agent that made responsible for the regulation of the growth of the legalised marijuana.

He said the DEC would provide security and it would only be able to handle critical issues relating to cocaine, heroin and other prohibited drugs that had no economic and social value.

Meanwhile, Mr Sinkamba said the campaign trail for the Green Party had reached an advanced stage and was optimistic of scooping the general polls.

Mr Sinkamba said this year’s elections were unique because any political party with the best manifesto would carry the day as there were no amateurs participating in the polls.

He urged the voters to turn up in large numbers on the polling day and vote for the Green party which aimed at changing the way the people looked at marijuana as it was a billion dollar agro business venture.