They presented both sides of the issue, along with providing some very interesting paradigms of problems like this affecting our world. We got a chance to see the Time cover, and the idea that this rice could save millions of people. I think this is a very Western view of issues like this. Here comes the West with science that can save and change the Indian diet. We also have Vandana Shiva, who is fighting back against golden rice. Tri-force did a great job of boiling down these different issues into a very clear, strong argument.
I just really enjoyed the way in which they presented. It felt like a very strong piece of rhetoric that addressed the important parts of the issue at stake. They took a very complex issue and made it into something presentable with tons of good information backing them. The science behind golden rice is all well and good, but can it really solve India's blindness problem? The answer from Tri-force was absolutely not, and through their presentation, I guess my answer is now no as well.
There are several things I agree with in your post, the main being that golden rice and the Time article carry the "Here comes the West with science that can save and change the Indian diet" attitude. And even though I agree with your statement that Triforce "took a very complex issue and made it into something presentable with tons of good information" I felt that the issues was boiled down too little. I know, that in cases like these poster presentations, we are unable to spend hours and hours presenting every single piece of data on the subject, but I just felt that, even though they made it a great presentation with tons of good information, other aspects were ignored. (But, it was necessary.) I also agree that golden rice will not be the solution to India's blindness, but it could be part of a solution, a small part.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Jesse - Golden rice cannot be part of a solution to India's Vitamin A deficiency because it lacks the protein and fat necessary for Vitamin A to be utilized by the human body, while containing less Vitamin A than other traditional Indian foods that could be grown on the same land more efficiently, with less utilization of scarce water resources. Helping Indian villages re-diversify their crops and obtain dairy cows would be much more likely to remedy Vitamin A deficiency than encouraging Indians to continue growing large-scale monocrops of rice for sale on the global market, even if that rice were golden. In fact, encouraging Indian farmers to grow or continue to grow large scale monocrops of rice of any kind is one of the worst options available for them, keeping them bound up in a cycle of dependency on external economic forces.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that we did leave out some information that is key to a better understanding of this situation: a more in-depth exploration of patenting, commodities markets, the global financial policies of the IMF and World Bank, corporate motivations and accountability, and the actual science of plant genetic engineering. There wasn't time or space. However, this doesn't mean that we left out the part about how golden rice "could be part of a solution" to India's blindness. Perhaps in a different world, without existing corporate structures or neo-colonial economic and political relationships, this could be true. But, since we are speaking in the world we actually live in (and cannot do otherwise), our conclusions remain firm, and in accordance with Vandana Shiva - Golden Rice is not the answer.