GM Rice Golden Rice: Status
In May 2000, the inventors reached an agreement with Zeneca and Greenovation, a German company acting as intermediary for the inventors. Zeneca pledged to provide regulatory, advisory and research expertise to help make Golden RiceTM available in developing countries. Under the agreement, Zeneca will give the inventors patent rights for use in developing countries in exchange for the right to sell Golden RiceTM to farmers in wealthy countries. More recently, Monsanto Co., one of the many patent holders, said it would waive its patent rights unconditionally. Hopefully, with the examples of Zeneca and Monsanto Co, other companies will fall into line behind Golden RiceTM. |
Related topics:
Summary Report on the Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops - [View the 2004 report] Transgenic Crops - [Click Here] Extensive Study on Bt Cotton - [Click Here] Download the complete copy of the ISAAA Briefs on Global Status/Review of GM Crops - [Click Here] SciDev.Net's dossier on GM crops - [Click here] Global Status of Approved Genetically Modified Plants - [Click here] |
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Despite the
success of Golden RiceTM and all the media attention, the new crop is
not yet ready for market. On the contrary, the collaborators do not expect
it to be available for local planting and consumption until 2003 at the
earliest. There is plenty of work still to do. The researchers used the
japonica variety of rice for their experiments, while indica rice is
the most common commercial strain. Scientists in Asia will now take on
the task of crossbreeding the new strain with local rice varieties and
field-testing the hybrids. As for the complex patent issue behind the
Golden RiceTM technology, there have now been bold efforts from the private
sector to help make it available in developing countries.