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ore than 15 years after its creation
,
Golden Rice continues to have a polarizing reputation.
For some, it is a miracle food and scientific triumph,
while others view it as dangerous, unproven and a threat to
food security in developing countries.
Golden Rice is a genetically modified organism (GMO) that
has been altered to produce high levels of beta-carotene,
which the human body converts into vitamin A. In normal rice
varieties, the leaves produce and store beta-carotene, while
the edible grain does not. The current version of Golden Rice,
which produces and accumulates beta-carotene in the grain,
was created using genes from maize (corn) and a common
soil bacterium.
Adrian Dubock, executive secretary of the Golden Rice
Humanitarian Board, uses a literary analogy to explain this gene
transfer process.
“It’s really taking a word from one book and putting it into
another book, and you can understand both the words, and the
sentence that the word is a part of still makes sense,” he said.
The presence of beta-carotene in the grain is what gives
Golden Rice its yellow or “golden” colour. The compound is
also found in many yellow- and orange- coloured fruits and
vegetables, such as carrots and sweet potatoes, and in green,
leafy vegetables.
European scientists Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer
developed Golden Rice in the late 1990s to combat rampant
vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in the developing world, especially
among young children. According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), the condition afflicts roughly 250 million
preschool-aged children and causes an estimated 250,000 to
500,000 children to go blind every year, with half dying within
12 months of losing their sight.
“It’s the biggest killer of children in the world,” said Patrick
Moore, Greenpeace co-founder turned chair of the Allow
Golden Rice Society.
With a similar sentiment of wanting to help those less
fortunate, Potrykus said his fight is with two giant issues:
poverty and malnutrition.
The Food Issue
2014
Grains
West
16
Feature
M
Golden
Rice:
Tempers flare over
vitamin-enriched
GMO
by Tyler Difley • Photography by International Rice research institute & Golden Rice Humanitarian Board