Golden Rice: The Fortified, Modified and Vilified Option for Third World Malnutrition

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Each year without fail anywhere between 250,000 to 500,000 children go blind from Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), more than half of those die within twelve months. To visualize this number think of Seattle, now imagine half or all of its population going blind. With a few dollars’ worth of food or supplements enriched in vitamin A this problem can be mollified. But getting fresh foods and vitamins to those with the greatest need has proven an insurmountable problem. Food Aid, while indeed lifesaving, is costly and does not fix the underlying problems in poor societies. To be truly secure people must have food independence, which is to say they must be able to grow their own food supply and not rely on outside markets. In countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, India and China the main food staple is rice. While rice is a valuable source of carbohydrates, once the rice is milled, and its outer layer shucked, it losses most of its nutritional value. Thirty years ago two German scientists, Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer set out to see if they could do something about making a better rice. What they came up with was genetically modified rice that was bright yellow because it was rich in β (beta)-carotene, and was called golden rice because of its sunny hue. But before the two scientists could pat themselves on the back for solving Vitamin A Deficiency, anti-GM (genetically modified) groups such as Greenpeace denounced the unnatural solution and swore that golden rice would never find its way to third world farmers. Twenty eight years and approximately 10,000,000 million deaths later golden rice has still not been able to escape the red tape and fear mongering of the First World. And while golden rice is not a cure all for world hunger,... ... middle of paper ... ...Rice to Combat Malnutrition Disorders of the Poor. Nutrition Reviews. Vol. 51. No. 6. Pp. S101-S104 June. Various Authors 2010 Genetically Modified Food Controversies. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_food_controversy Author Unknown (Editorial) 2005 Reburnishing [sic] Golden Rice. Nature Biotechnology. Vol. 23. No. 4. Pp. 395. April Author Unknown 2005 Scientists in Support of Agricultural Biotechnology. AgBioWorld. Agbioworld.org/declaration/petition/petition.php

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