The Business Mirror is reporting that THE Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the British government and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have allocated $14 million to fund the second phase of research for C4 rice over the next three years.
In a statement, IRRI said the second phase of the project aims to produce C4 rice prototypes for testing.
“C4 rice” dubbed “the rice of the future” has a built-in fuel injector to better convert sunlight into grain, potentially resulting in up to 50 percent higher production while using less water and nutrients.
“This is exactly the sort of innovative scientific research that the Prime Minister was calling for at the Hunger Summit at Downing Street earlier this year,” said Lynne Featherstone, the UK Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for International Development, in a statement.
Prof. Joe Cummins reviews genetically modified rice in Japan and points to overlooked dangers
Japanese experiments in GM rice are technically sophisticated but the human and environmental safety of the GM crops has not yet been full evaluated. In particular, the human cytochrome p450 genes are already known to activate carcinogens. They should not be used in rice, which is an important food crop that is eaten widely as a staple in Japan and many parts of Asia. The extensive use of aggressive CaMV–based superpromoters untested for safety, and the incorporation of human genes will both increase the potential of transgenic DNA to invade human genomes through illegitimate and homologous recombination, with dangerous consequences including the creation/activation of new viruses or cancer .
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