Nobel laureate Richard G Roberts has urged India to reconsider its approach to genetically modified (GM) crops, saying Golden Rice could help address vitamin A deficiency, improve crop yields and tackle malnutrition among children.
Vitamin A deficiency is a leading cause of preventable blindness in young children.
Speaking at the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC) on Tuesday, Roberts said India should examine the potential of biotechnology-modified crops to improve nutrition, particularly among economically disadvantaged populations who may not have access to expensive vitamin supplements and medicines.
“Food is medicine,” Roberts said, arguing that better nutrition through food could help reduce the burden of diseases, particularly in developing countries.
Speaking about Golden Rice, a variety developed to produce beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A, he said it could help address vitamin A deficiency, a major public health concern in parts of South Asia.
“Why is it not available in India?” he asked, urging the Indian government to give the crop careful consideration. He said Golden Rice could be made available at the same cost as conventional rice and argued that it could improve nutrition without significantly increasing household food expenses.
Roberts also criticised opposition to GM crops, arguing that public concerns about their safety had delayed the development and adoption of potentially beneficial agricultural technologies. He said no safety problems attributable to biotechnology-modified crops had been demonstrated over the past 35 years.
Roberts said biotechnology could be particularly useful in developing countries, where many staple crops had not received the same level of investment in agricultural improvement as crops grown in wealthier countries.
“Food choice is a luxury of the developed world,” he said, arguing that people should be free to avoid biotechnology-derived foods if they wished but should not prevent others from accessing them on the basis of unsubstantiated safety concerns.
Beyond food production, Roberts said biotechnology could contribute to climate change mitigation by helping develop plants capable of absorbing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
He called for a greater role for scientific evidence in policymaking, saying governments that fund scientific research should also pay attention to scientists’ findings.
“We need more science in politics and perhaps a little less politics in science,” he said.
