• by IPS Correspondents (los banos, philippines)
• Wednesday, December 14, 1994
• Inter Press Service

LOS BANOS, Philippines, Dic 14 (IPS) - Consumer phobia about genetic engineering could hamper research into new transgenic rice seeds that scientists hope will one day feed Asia's rising population.

Plant breeders here at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) are under fire from groups opposed to biotechnology. They concede that inserting an alien gene into a rice plant to make it disease-resistant may become a scientific success, but its product is unlikely to become a commercial hit soon.

"Due to terrible exaggeration through media, especially television, many people link biotechnology to the stories of Dracula," says IRRI director general Klaus Lampe.

This is because of people's fear of the unknown and the complexity of a technology that affects food and health. "I think you will buy a transgenic tulip or orchid more easily than a piece of transgenic bread," he added. "This needs time."

But despite biotechnology's image problem, IRRI says it will continue to use gene splicing and conventional tools to search for ways to boost rice quality and harvests and meet a projected 70 percent increase in demand for rice over the next 35 years.

The Philippine-based IRRI is responsible for the high-yielding Green Revolution rice that made countries like Indonesia and the Philippines self-sufficient in the staple grain in the 1960's. This week IRRI announced the harvests of the first prototype breeds of a Super Rice that may boost yields by up to 25 percent.

IRRI says its new rice plant was bred by conventional means and breeders had not used genetic engineering -- at least not yet. Scientists say they may use gene transfers over the next few years to make the plant more disease-resistant.

"We have reason to believe we can assist in enhancing insect resistance in the new plant type, maybe fungus resistance, and virus resistance," molecular biologist John Bennett said. IRRI recently built a 400-sq m greenhouse for transgenic rice plants.

IRRI scientists have transferred genes from bacteria and soybean into rice chromosomes to make them pest-resistant and thus need less pesticides. Genetic engineering allows them to use traits from organisms that cannot form hybrids with rice by conventional breeding.

Super Rice has been on the drawing boards since 1988 and is IRRI's hope for a second Green Revolution. It has thicker and sturdier stems, fewer panicles capable of producing more grains and thicker leaves to catch more sunlight.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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