What has become of Golden Rice? That's the question Amy Harmon of The New York Times has addressed in an article 'A Miracle Rice Which Could Save Millions Of Lives Is Raising The Stakes In The War Over GM Foods' in the Business Insider of Australia.
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| ‘Golden Rice’ (R) and ordinary rice, in the hands of a scientist at the International Rice Research Institute in The Philippines - Picture courtesy of Business Insider Australia |
“In a decade of work culminating in 1999,”
Harmon writes, “two academic scientists, Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer,
finally switched on the production of beta carotene by adding daffodil
and bacteria DNA to the rice’s genome.”
Scientists later swapped out the daffodil DNA for corn DNA,
vastly increasing the amount of beta-carotene in the special rice,
whose resulting yellowish colour resembled the flesh of a ripe mango.
“From the outset, it seemed totally crazy,” Potrykus said, in an interview with New Scientist, explaining what a longshot the technology was when they first tried it. “It was a surprise that it worked.”
Many environmental groups voiced immediate concerns about Golden Rice and genetically modified food in general. (The scientific consensus on GM foods is that they are just as safe as any other food.)
Neth Daño, an agricultural policy researcher and advocate in the Philippines, told NPR
that some see Golden Rice as a public relations campaign for
genetically modified foods and biotechnology, rather than the most
pragmatic solution.
Still, The Gates Foundation
and other major donors see Golden Rice as an important potential tool
in fighting Vitamin A deficiency, and so — in spite of protests and
plenty of red tape — the project has moved forward.
Read the full story HERE!
Read the full story HERE!
The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine GFMT which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
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