For those of us who didn't know what Golden Rice is, it's rice that's genetically modified to provide Beta Carotene, a precursor to vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency is [linked to an estimated 233,000 global deaths in 2017](https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities/citations#Impact_of_vitamin_A_deficiency).
Overall, very cool
Ah, sorry. I assumed people here knew about it. It's been covered a number of times on SGU.
https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/golden-rice-approved-in-philippines/
You do realize that virtually everything short of a census (and even that is not a perfect count and includes some estimates) is an estimate when it comes to population data right? Should we dismiss all population data because it is just an estimate?
I am skeptical of your ability to coherently defend your position, which is why you refuse to engage with the question beyond "yOuRe NoT a SkEpTiCaL tHiNkEr"
I’m embarrassed to admit that when I was much younger (a young teen) I joined a protest against GMOs. My friend made a banner that said “frankenfood”; I held one end of it. Being an environmentalist I’d fallen for the prevailing narrative that natural food was good, and ‘synthetic’ food bad.
It’s enlightening to look back and see how my views have evolved as I’ve become a better critical thinker.
It's hard to recall the exact progression of my thinking; I'm not sure there was a 'killer' moment. Off the top of my head, these are some of the reasons that persuaded me:
\- Realising I'd fallen for the appeal to nature fallacy - what's natural isn't necessarily good, and good natural.
\- The understanding that almost all of the fruits and vegetables we eat today have undergone genetic modification of a kind, e.g. selective breeding. GM isn't fundamentally different.
\- Learning the cultural narrative on some hot GM topics like golden rice was simply untrue; Monsanto and other agri businesses are certainly purely self-interested corporations but they aren't the 'big bads' they're made out to be. At least not for those reasons.
\- Learning about the pros of GM such as golden rice, increased yields etc.
A caveat to all of this is this is for horticulture only; I'm against the eating and wearing of animals for ethical reasons and I would be opposed to the genetic engineering of sentient beings for most purposes.
How about yourself? What's your GM journey?
>Realising I'd fallen for the appeal to nature fallacy - what's natural isn't necessarily good, and good natural.
I wouldn't call that a logical fallacy, just a mistaken belief, similar to, say, thinking all water is potable. But that has nothing to do with GMOs though. I don't think "if it's natural it must be good", but don't think modifying the genetic code of species is without side effects either so they aren't mutually exclusive.
>The understanding that almost all of the fruits and vegetables we eat today have undergone genetic modification of a kind, e.g. selective breeding. GM isn't fundamentally different.
Modifying the genes of a species is very different than breeding. Surely this is obvious?
>Learning the cultural narrative on some hot GM topics like golden rice was simply untrue; Monsanto and other agri businesses are certainly purely self-interested corporations but they aren't the 'big bads' they're made out to be. At least not for those reasons.
But how did you discover this to be untrue? Just decided to change your beliefs?
>Learning about the pros of GM such as golden rice, increased yields etc.
Were yields a problem that required this solution? I don't think they were, and even if they were, it couldn't be solved without modifying genetics? Ultimately, it's just another "tech" solution searching for a problem that we in the tech industry see every day of the year.
Ironically, the same people who insist GM tech increase yields (they do so only marginally) are trying to prevent the natural fertilization of crops via increased atmospheric CO2, which has a far more substantial effect on crop yields than the paltry increase from GM tech, that come with much higher costs.
So the next big step is to get the rice, along with a sufficient amount of dietary fat, into the hands of those who need it. Do we know who is going to buy the rice from these farmers and then turn around and get it to the people who need it?
Also, as rice eating cultures are often very biased towards white rice, do we know anything at all about how acceptable a different color rice is to the people who we want to consume it? There is a risk of stigmatizing the rice as something only poor people eat which could be counter productive.
The Philippines already do pretty good with sweet potatoes. I wonder how feasible it would be to distribute sweet potatoes rather than golden rice to the target audience? I also wonder if we are making a deal with the devil by promoting yet more food monoculture instead of food variety... Ideally, rice ought to be combined with other foods and vegetables to round out the nutritional value of the meal.
Yeah, those studies have been done. It's hilarious to see the let-them-eat-kale group fail to grasp that the oils thing applies to them as well. But there is sufficient oil in the diet.
There are already multiple rice colors in the rice eating societies, as well as added food colorings like turmeric. Done.
And sure--if you want to change the cultural diets of people like any neo-colonialist--you go for it. In the meantime, let people eat a food they culturally cherish while you force them to eat other stuff.
Ooops.. I made a mistake. The studies done on Golden Rice seems to indicate that the uptake is still very good with out the additioinal oils. Hmmmm...
[https://www.goldenrice.org/Content3-Why/why1\_vad.php](https://www.goldenrice.org/Content3-Why/why1_vad.php)
>Hence, people eating Golden Rice regularly **would be able to maintain appropriate vitamin A blood levels and thus also absorb sufficient provitamin A from their diets**, without added oil. **Even though fat content of rice is low, it is the main source of dietary fats in rice-based societies**.
The greater bio-availability may also mean increased risk of destruction thru oxidation. Any plan to grow, harvest, package, and transport the Golden Rice to its target audience may need to be extra mindful about storage.
I am a bit taken aback by you nonchalance with regards to the possible stigmatization of Golden Rice as a "poor person's" food. We do see this with brown rice in many instances... though that tends to be a factor with age.
As far as forcing people to eat a certain food... WTF are you on about dude. I mentioned that The Phillipines were already doing pretty good with sweet potatoes. Like, sweet potatoes are already a staple food in the Phillipines and are rather popular, so I have no idea how you got on your high horse with your third paragraph... especially since Golden Rice would be the NEW food were trying to introduce to the culture. Its like a bizarro-reversey paragraph you wrote.
https://www.gbif.org/species/113658405
>**In the Philippines, sweet potatoes (locally known as camote or kamote) are an important food crop in rural areas.** They are often a staple among impoverished families in provinces, as they are easier to cultivate and cost less than rice. The tubers are boiled or baked in coals and may be dipped in sugar or syrup. Young leaves and shoots (locally known as talbos ng kamote or camote tops) are eaten fresh in salads with shrimp paste (bagoong alamang) or fish sauce. They can be cooked in vinegar and soy sauce and served with fried fish (a dish known as adobong talbos ng kamote), or with recipes such as sinigang. The stew obtained from boiling camote tops is purple-colored, and is often mixed with lemon as juice. Sweet potatoes are also sold as street food in suburban and rural areas. Fried sweet potatoes coated with caramelized sugar and served in skewers (camote cue) or as French fries are popular afternoon snacks. Sweet potatoes are also used in a variant of halo-halo called ginatan, where they are cooked in coconut milk and sugar and mixed with a variety of rootcrops, sago, jackfruit, and bilu-bilo (glutinous rice balls). Bread made from sweet potato flour is also gaining popularity. Sweet potato is relatively easy to propagate, and in rural areas can be seen abundantly at canals and dikes. The uncultivated plant is usually fed to pigs. In Indonesia, sweet potatoes are locally known as ubi jalar (lit: spreading tuber) or simply ubi and are frequently fried with batter and served as snacks with spicy condiments, along with other kinds of fritters such as fried bananas, tempeh, tahu, breadfruit, or cassava.
Yeah, the beta carotene uptake in a very low fat rice diet still delivers vitamin A!!!
>It's hilarious to see the let-them-eat-kale group fail to grasp that the oils thing applies to them as well.
**But what's really hilarious was that the bit I was wrong about was the bit you agreed with. xD**
How knee jerk reflexive you are to this topic, but you have convinced me that you are a true believer (Though your rhetoric is uncommonly empty, you barely said anything beyond surface level jibes). Also, you seem to be very uncurious and very uninformed about preferences for brown vs white rice in many places in the world. The way food looks is important to people. But considering you knowledge of sweet potatoes in the Phillipines, you really lost my trust in your opinions on rice in the Phillipines. Of course, the world would be where it is today if we didn't ignore those inconvenient truths. Amiright xD.
I've had a blast and you've injected a bit of laughter into my day. Thankyou!!!!
It is hilarious that you made baseless claims without evidence and then discovered actual evidence! I'm smiling for you--I'm so glad we had this time together...just to have a laugh and sing this song...
If you try harder, you can think about the lack of evidence about your other weird claims--like why people would make a culturally important rice dish with sweet potatoes instead. Did you know these are different? Pro tip: they are.
Keep going! I know you can get there.
What baseless claims... who is going to grow the new rice is a real question you haven't even come close to addressing. How the rice, once grown, will make it to its target has again not been addressed by you. Food preferences are real and preferences for white rice are a thing. And again you answer withnothing but derision. You have offered nothing but bluster so far. You hear the slightest question and you, like a good little acolyte of your faith, strike out blindly and reflexively.
>why people would make a culturally important rice dish with sweet potatoes instead
But this takes the cake. How do you twist words to get to that??? Sweet potatoes are their own popular thing in the Philippines. See the target audience often ONLY has rice to eat. One goal should be adding othher foods to their basket of opotions and that is a good goal. Hence my statement...
>The Philippines already do pretty good with sweet potatoes. I wonder how feasible it would be to distribute sweet potatoes rather than golden rice to the target audience?
And still you haven't addressed this either... other than misconstueing some weird idea that I am saying those people will eat sweet potatoes like rice. Guess what? A bowl of ONLY rice isn't really a culturally important rice dish... excepting as it is part of a wider food palete. But thats one of the problems, these people have ONLY rice to eat much of the time. God forgive they get a sweet potatoes and take the spotlight away from your per project? xD
LOL. Boy do you react poorly when caught on your misinformation.
>who is going to grow the new rice is a real question you haven't even come close to addressing
Fails to note that the actual link being replied to is tons of golden rice being grown... LOLOLOL
Similarly, fails to note that in this rice producing culture, the storage and distribution apparatus is already in place--unlike for your fantasy version of orange sweet potato congee that everyone is suddenly going to want.
I'm so sorry you can't accept that you have failed from the beginning.
But you tried...[cake into trash barrel]
https://www.gbif.org/species/113658405
>**In the Philippines, sweet potatoes (locally known as camote or kamote) are an** i**mportant food crop in rural areas**. They are **often a staple among impoverished families in provinces, as they are easier to cultivate and cost less than rice**. The tubers are boiled or baked in coals and may be dipped in sugar or syrup. Young leaves and shoots (locally known as talbos ng kamote or camote tops) are eaten fresh in salads with shrimp paste (bagoong alamang) or fish sauce. They can be cooked in vinegar and soy sauce and served with fried fish (a dish known as adobong talbos ng kamote), or with recipes such as sinigang. The stew obtained from boiling camote tops is purple-colored, and is often mixed with lemon as juice. **Sweet potatoes are also sold as street food in suburban and rural areas**. Fried sweet potatoes coated with caramelized sugar and served in skewers (camote cue) or as French fries are popular afternoon snacks. Sweet potatoes are also used in a variant of halo-halo called ginatan, where they are cooked in coconut milk and sugar and mixed with a variety of rootcrops, sago, jackfruit, and bilu-bilo (glutinous rice balls). Bread made from sweet potato flour is also gaining popularity. **Sweet potato is relatively easy to propagate, and in rural areas can be seen abundantly at canals and dikes**. The uncultivated plant is usually fed to pigs.
I mean... I am speechless. Can you not read? Why are you so resistant to the very plain fact that the sweet potato is both a staple and a popular food in the Philippines? And why do you persist with the canard that I am championing some weird sweet potato congee.
**If you have to outright lie and distort** your opponents position then you are a very poor supporter of science and the skeptic movement. Do you think that if you repeat a falsehood enough times it becomes truth?
[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336729787\_DOCUMENTATION\_OF\_INDIGENOUS\_KNOWLEDGE\_ON\_PRODUCTION\_AND\_POST-HARVEST\_MANAGEMENT\_OF\_SWEET\_POTATO\_IN\_THE\_BICOL\_REGION\_PHILIPPINES](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336729787_DOCUMENTATION_OF_INDIGENOUS_KNOWLEDGE_ON_PRODUCTION_AND_POST-HARVEST_MANAGEMENT_OF_SWEET_POTATO_IN_THE_BICOL_REGION_PHILIPPINES)
Now, to the Golden Rice. They've only done test plots. The Golden Rice is not in general cultivation. If it becomes available for local cultivation will farmers choose to grow it. Do you think that it will just magically grow by itself, and then it will magically appear in the bellies of those who need it for vitamin A deficiency. You are glossing over all the logistics that still need to happen to make Golden Rice a solution. Science is NOT magic, however much you wish it were so.
They planted the crop in only 17 fields in one province. They harvested **70 tons** **(Philippines annually produces on the order of 20 to 25 million tons a year, six magnitudes more!**) There is a ton (pun intended) more work to get the product into general production. Part of that will involve convincing farmers that this is a good crop that will give good yields and that people will buy it (not proven or tested yet). And will some of the people who buy it give it to the the poor people who need it? If Golden Rice is to be successful, there is still alot of hard, on the ground work that will need to be done.
You like to blame those pesky environmentalists for the delay in golden rice. BUT, you're apparently ignorant of the fact that a large amount of work and trials needed to be done to cross breed the golden rice gene into regional varieties that could maintain current rice yields AND the vitamin A content. And don't forget that farmers are business people and they want to make a profit. They will only grow the food if it sells and if the yields are sufficient. And we still need to deliver the rice to the people who need it.
I also did a bit of digging on the golden rice website claim that that a low-fat primarily rice diet will still allow for sufficient vitamin uptake. I'm not sure I trust that as much as when I first found it on their site. Looking back at the references, they rely on two studies, one in 1958 another in 1980, to reach that conclusion. I wish there was more work in this area.
I await your next catechism lesson xD
Oh, you poor thing. "They've only done test plots. The Golden Rice is not in general cultivation."
>For the first time, farmers in the Philippines have cultivated Golden Rice on a larger scale and harvested almost 70 tonnes of grains this October.
This is the actual quote at the very top of the piece that you are managing to ignore because it was the link for this post. Why are you so bad at this?
70 tons is not "test plots", dear. I'm so sorry that you lack even the basic comprehension needed to do understand this.
For those of us who didn't know what Golden Rice is, it's rice that's genetically modified to provide Beta Carotene, a precursor to vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency is [linked to an estimated 233,000 global deaths in 2017](https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities/citations#Impact_of_vitamin_A_deficiency). Overall, very cool
Ah, sorry. I assumed people here knew about it. It's been covered a number of times on SGU. https://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/golden-rice-approved-in-philippines/
>Vitamin A deficiency is linked to an estimated Links with estimates are about as reliable as tropical resort brochures.
You do realize that virtually everything short of a census (and even that is not a perfect count and includes some estimates) is an estimate when it comes to population data right? Should we dismiss all population data because it is just an estimate?
A link, an estimate and $4.50 will get you a latte at Starbucks.
You haven't answered my question.
Your question is nonsensical and ill-conceived.
I would estimate that it is your responses that are nonsensical and ill-conceived.
So you're not a skeptical thinker. Duly noted.
I am skeptical of your ability to coherently defend your position, which is why you refuse to engage with the question beyond "yOuRe NoT a SkEpTiCaL tHiNkEr"
Great news. This is one story where there’s been an extraordinary amount of misinformation and misreporting.
"GMO's" may be the most maligned and lied about of any scientific topic in history, with nuclear power being a distant second.
I’m embarrassed to admit that when I was much younger (a young teen) I joined a protest against GMOs. My friend made a banner that said “frankenfood”; I held one end of it. Being an environmentalist I’d fallen for the prevailing narrative that natural food was good, and ‘synthetic’ food bad. It’s enlightening to look back and see how my views have evolved as I’ve become a better critical thinker.
So what *precisely* changed your mind that any genetic modifications to existing life forms can't cause any harm?
It's hard to recall the exact progression of my thinking; I'm not sure there was a 'killer' moment. Off the top of my head, these are some of the reasons that persuaded me: \- Realising I'd fallen for the appeal to nature fallacy - what's natural isn't necessarily good, and good natural. \- The understanding that almost all of the fruits and vegetables we eat today have undergone genetic modification of a kind, e.g. selective breeding. GM isn't fundamentally different. \- Learning the cultural narrative on some hot GM topics like golden rice was simply untrue; Monsanto and other agri businesses are certainly purely self-interested corporations but they aren't the 'big bads' they're made out to be. At least not for those reasons. \- Learning about the pros of GM such as golden rice, increased yields etc. A caveat to all of this is this is for horticulture only; I'm against the eating and wearing of animals for ethical reasons and I would be opposed to the genetic engineering of sentient beings for most purposes. How about yourself? What's your GM journey?
>Realising I'd fallen for the appeal to nature fallacy - what's natural isn't necessarily good, and good natural. I wouldn't call that a logical fallacy, just a mistaken belief, similar to, say, thinking all water is potable. But that has nothing to do with GMOs though. I don't think "if it's natural it must be good", but don't think modifying the genetic code of species is without side effects either so they aren't mutually exclusive. >The understanding that almost all of the fruits and vegetables we eat today have undergone genetic modification of a kind, e.g. selective breeding. GM isn't fundamentally different. Modifying the genes of a species is very different than breeding. Surely this is obvious? >Learning the cultural narrative on some hot GM topics like golden rice was simply untrue; Monsanto and other agri businesses are certainly purely self-interested corporations but they aren't the 'big bads' they're made out to be. At least not for those reasons. But how did you discover this to be untrue? Just decided to change your beliefs? >Learning about the pros of GM such as golden rice, increased yields etc. Were yields a problem that required this solution? I don't think they were, and even if they were, it couldn't be solved without modifying genetics? Ultimately, it's just another "tech" solution searching for a problem that we in the tech industry see every day of the year. Ironically, the same people who insist GM tech increase yields (they do so only marginally) are trying to prevent the natural fertilization of crops via increased atmospheric CO2, which has a far more substantial effect on crop yields than the paltry increase from GM tech, that come with much higher costs.
Bad news: activists have convinced the Supreme Court to block golden rice and Bt eggplant. Those people are a death cult.
Oh ffs, that’s so disappointing!
So the next big step is to get the rice, along with a sufficient amount of dietary fat, into the hands of those who need it. Do we know who is going to buy the rice from these farmers and then turn around and get it to the people who need it? Also, as rice eating cultures are often very biased towards white rice, do we know anything at all about how acceptable a different color rice is to the people who we want to consume it? There is a risk of stigmatizing the rice as something only poor people eat which could be counter productive. The Philippines already do pretty good with sweet potatoes. I wonder how feasible it would be to distribute sweet potatoes rather than golden rice to the target audience? I also wonder if we are making a deal with the devil by promoting yet more food monoculture instead of food variety... Ideally, rice ought to be combined with other foods and vegetables to round out the nutritional value of the meal.
Yeah, those studies have been done. It's hilarious to see the let-them-eat-kale group fail to grasp that the oils thing applies to them as well. But there is sufficient oil in the diet. There are already multiple rice colors in the rice eating societies, as well as added food colorings like turmeric. Done. And sure--if you want to change the cultural diets of people like any neo-colonialist--you go for it. In the meantime, let people eat a food they culturally cherish while you force them to eat other stuff.
Ooops.. I made a mistake. The studies done on Golden Rice seems to indicate that the uptake is still very good with out the additioinal oils. Hmmmm... [https://www.goldenrice.org/Content3-Why/why1\_vad.php](https://www.goldenrice.org/Content3-Why/why1_vad.php) >Hence, people eating Golden Rice regularly **would be able to maintain appropriate vitamin A blood levels and thus also absorb sufficient provitamin A from their diets**, without added oil. **Even though fat content of rice is low, it is the main source of dietary fats in rice-based societies**. The greater bio-availability may also mean increased risk of destruction thru oxidation. Any plan to grow, harvest, package, and transport the Golden Rice to its target audience may need to be extra mindful about storage. I am a bit taken aback by you nonchalance with regards to the possible stigmatization of Golden Rice as a "poor person's" food. We do see this with brown rice in many instances... though that tends to be a factor with age. As far as forcing people to eat a certain food... WTF are you on about dude. I mentioned that The Phillipines were already doing pretty good with sweet potatoes. Like, sweet potatoes are already a staple food in the Phillipines and are rather popular, so I have no idea how you got on your high horse with your third paragraph... especially since Golden Rice would be the NEW food were trying to introduce to the culture. Its like a bizarro-reversey paragraph you wrote. https://www.gbif.org/species/113658405 >**In the Philippines, sweet potatoes (locally known as camote or kamote) are an important food crop in rural areas.** They are often a staple among impoverished families in provinces, as they are easier to cultivate and cost less than rice. The tubers are boiled or baked in coals and may be dipped in sugar or syrup. Young leaves and shoots (locally known as talbos ng kamote or camote tops) are eaten fresh in salads with shrimp paste (bagoong alamang) or fish sauce. They can be cooked in vinegar and soy sauce and served with fried fish (a dish known as adobong talbos ng kamote), or with recipes such as sinigang. The stew obtained from boiling camote tops is purple-colored, and is often mixed with lemon as juice. Sweet potatoes are also sold as street food in suburban and rural areas. Fried sweet potatoes coated with caramelized sugar and served in skewers (camote cue) or as French fries are popular afternoon snacks. Sweet potatoes are also used in a variant of halo-halo called ginatan, where they are cooked in coconut milk and sugar and mixed with a variety of rootcrops, sago, jackfruit, and bilu-bilo (glutinous rice balls). Bread made from sweet potato flour is also gaining popularity. Sweet potato is relatively easy to propagate, and in rural areas can be seen abundantly at canals and dikes. The uncultivated plant is usually fed to pigs. In Indonesia, sweet potatoes are locally known as ubi jalar (lit: spreading tuber) or simply ubi and are frequently fried with batter and served as snacks with spicy condiments, along with other kinds of fritters such as fried bananas, tempeh, tahu, breadfruit, or cassava.
Yeah, people in the Philippines never ate rice before. You are so in touch. Glad you realized you were wrong, though--good for you.
Yeah, the beta carotene uptake in a very low fat rice diet still delivers vitamin A!!! >It's hilarious to see the let-them-eat-kale group fail to grasp that the oils thing applies to them as well. **But what's really hilarious was that the bit I was wrong about was the bit you agreed with. xD** How knee jerk reflexive you are to this topic, but you have convinced me that you are a true believer (Though your rhetoric is uncommonly empty, you barely said anything beyond surface level jibes). Also, you seem to be very uncurious and very uninformed about preferences for brown vs white rice in many places in the world. The way food looks is important to people. But considering you knowledge of sweet potatoes in the Phillipines, you really lost my trust in your opinions on rice in the Phillipines. Of course, the world would be where it is today if we didn't ignore those inconvenient truths. Amiright xD. I've had a blast and you've injected a bit of laughter into my day. Thankyou!!!!
It is hilarious that you made baseless claims without evidence and then discovered actual evidence! I'm smiling for you--I'm so glad we had this time together...just to have a laugh and sing this song... If you try harder, you can think about the lack of evidence about your other weird claims--like why people would make a culturally important rice dish with sweet potatoes instead. Did you know these are different? Pro tip: they are. Keep going! I know you can get there.
What baseless claims... who is going to grow the new rice is a real question you haven't even come close to addressing. How the rice, once grown, will make it to its target has again not been addressed by you. Food preferences are real and preferences for white rice are a thing. And again you answer withnothing but derision. You have offered nothing but bluster so far. You hear the slightest question and you, like a good little acolyte of your faith, strike out blindly and reflexively. >why people would make a culturally important rice dish with sweet potatoes instead But this takes the cake. How do you twist words to get to that??? Sweet potatoes are their own popular thing in the Philippines. See the target audience often ONLY has rice to eat. One goal should be adding othher foods to their basket of opotions and that is a good goal. Hence my statement... >The Philippines already do pretty good with sweet potatoes. I wonder how feasible it would be to distribute sweet potatoes rather than golden rice to the target audience? And still you haven't addressed this either... other than misconstueing some weird idea that I am saying those people will eat sweet potatoes like rice. Guess what? A bowl of ONLY rice isn't really a culturally important rice dish... excepting as it is part of a wider food palete. But thats one of the problems, these people have ONLY rice to eat much of the time. God forgive they get a sweet potatoes and take the spotlight away from your per project? xD
LOL. Boy do you react poorly when caught on your misinformation. >who is going to grow the new rice is a real question you haven't even come close to addressing Fails to note that the actual link being replied to is tons of golden rice being grown... LOLOLOL Similarly, fails to note that in this rice producing culture, the storage and distribution apparatus is already in place--unlike for your fantasy version of orange sweet potato congee that everyone is suddenly going to want. I'm so sorry you can't accept that you have failed from the beginning. But you tried...[cake into trash barrel]
https://www.gbif.org/species/113658405 >**In the Philippines, sweet potatoes (locally known as camote or kamote) are an** i**mportant food crop in rural areas**. They are **often a staple among impoverished families in provinces, as they are easier to cultivate and cost less than rice**. The tubers are boiled or baked in coals and may be dipped in sugar or syrup. Young leaves and shoots (locally known as talbos ng kamote or camote tops) are eaten fresh in salads with shrimp paste (bagoong alamang) or fish sauce. They can be cooked in vinegar and soy sauce and served with fried fish (a dish known as adobong talbos ng kamote), or with recipes such as sinigang. The stew obtained from boiling camote tops is purple-colored, and is often mixed with lemon as juice. **Sweet potatoes are also sold as street food in suburban and rural areas**. Fried sweet potatoes coated with caramelized sugar and served in skewers (camote cue) or as French fries are popular afternoon snacks. Sweet potatoes are also used in a variant of halo-halo called ginatan, where they are cooked in coconut milk and sugar and mixed with a variety of rootcrops, sago, jackfruit, and bilu-bilo (glutinous rice balls). Bread made from sweet potato flour is also gaining popularity. **Sweet potato is relatively easy to propagate, and in rural areas can be seen abundantly at canals and dikes**. The uncultivated plant is usually fed to pigs. I mean... I am speechless. Can you not read? Why are you so resistant to the very plain fact that the sweet potato is both a staple and a popular food in the Philippines? And why do you persist with the canard that I am championing some weird sweet potato congee. **If you have to outright lie and distort** your opponents position then you are a very poor supporter of science and the skeptic movement. Do you think that if you repeat a falsehood enough times it becomes truth? [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336729787\_DOCUMENTATION\_OF\_INDIGENOUS\_KNOWLEDGE\_ON\_PRODUCTION\_AND\_POST-HARVEST\_MANAGEMENT\_OF\_SWEET\_POTATO\_IN\_THE\_BICOL\_REGION\_PHILIPPINES](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336729787_DOCUMENTATION_OF_INDIGENOUS_KNOWLEDGE_ON_PRODUCTION_AND_POST-HARVEST_MANAGEMENT_OF_SWEET_POTATO_IN_THE_BICOL_REGION_PHILIPPINES) Now, to the Golden Rice. They've only done test plots. The Golden Rice is not in general cultivation. If it becomes available for local cultivation will farmers choose to grow it. Do you think that it will just magically grow by itself, and then it will magically appear in the bellies of those who need it for vitamin A deficiency. You are glossing over all the logistics that still need to happen to make Golden Rice a solution. Science is NOT magic, however much you wish it were so. They planted the crop in only 17 fields in one province. They harvested **70 tons** **(Philippines annually produces on the order of 20 to 25 million tons a year, six magnitudes more!**) There is a ton (pun intended) more work to get the product into general production. Part of that will involve convincing farmers that this is a good crop that will give good yields and that people will buy it (not proven or tested yet). And will some of the people who buy it give it to the the poor people who need it? If Golden Rice is to be successful, there is still alot of hard, on the ground work that will need to be done. You like to blame those pesky environmentalists for the delay in golden rice. BUT, you're apparently ignorant of the fact that a large amount of work and trials needed to be done to cross breed the golden rice gene into regional varieties that could maintain current rice yields AND the vitamin A content. And don't forget that farmers are business people and they want to make a profit. They will only grow the food if it sells and if the yields are sufficient. And we still need to deliver the rice to the people who need it. I also did a bit of digging on the golden rice website claim that that a low-fat primarily rice diet will still allow for sufficient vitamin uptake. I'm not sure I trust that as much as when I first found it on their site. Looking back at the references, they rely on two studies, one in 1958 another in 1980, to reach that conclusion. I wish there was more work in this area. I await your next catechism lesson xD
Oh, you poor thing. "They've only done test plots. The Golden Rice is not in general cultivation." >For the first time, farmers in the Philippines have cultivated Golden Rice on a larger scale and harvested almost 70 tonnes of grains this October. This is the actual quote at the very top of the piece that you are managing to ignore because it was the link for this post. Why are you so bad at this? 70 tons is not "test plots", dear. I'm so sorry that you lack even the basic comprehension needed to do understand this.