Last November 9, Stop Golden Rice! Network SGRN staged a protest in front of the Department of Agriculture  (DA) in the Philippines and formally submitted a letter to the DA Secretary, questioning the process of approval. Prior to the last filing, SGRN submitted two letters that were not given a satisfactory or substantial response from the agency. In light of these, the network drafted a statement as a response to PhilRice's call for public comments. 

We the public continue to call into question Golden Rice’s December 2019 approval despite the following serious lapses:

1.  Lacking in safety feeding tests, which is an important part of the regulatory process,
2. Low beta-carotene expression that makes it virtually ineffective against Vitamin A deficiency which it purports to address,
3. Zero independent, comprehensive, and substantial risk and impact assessments and
4. The overall lack of transparency on the side of its proponents International Rice Research Institute and PhilRice along with the Bureau of Plant Industry regarding the entire process

Beyond the demand for transparency, we reiterate our primary position to stop the experimentation, production, and attempts to commercialize Golden Rice, noting the aforementioned reasons. We enjoin the public to send their concerns and criticism to PhilRice’s public call for comments. We also enjoin the public to join initiatives to stop the planned commercialization of Golden Rice.

For more information regarding this campaign, the network has a repository of resources in our social media pages, and as well as its member organizations. The Stop Golden Rice! Network's Facebook page can be accessed through this link: https://www.facebook.com/SGRNasia/ 

View the petition here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GYhlPj4ywYlTyKJ1xguiQgAUsxv7HQAr/view?usp=sharing