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http://www.noble.org

www.lsuagcenter.com

www.goldenrice.org

www.scidev.net/

 

Here’s the story of Golden Rice, rice that is yellow because it makes a precursor to vitamin A.  The heros of this tale are Dr. Ingo Potrykus, a Swiss plant biologist , and biochemist Dr. Peter Beyer. Potrykus and Beyer (and their many colleagues) worked together to develop vitamin A-rich rice.  Ingo went to work to develop such enriched rice because he himself had experienced hunger as a child, having lost his father during World War II.  He wanted to address a real problem that affected people much less fortunate.  At a conference called together by the Rockefeller Foundation, which funded a great deal of agricultural research, the attendees all agreed that adding the ability to produce vitamin A to rice, a major part of the diet of many people in poor countries, would have huge health benefits.  Many children die of vitamin A deficiency and adults who have too little of it can go blind.  Ingo was determined that whatever he produced would be freely available to farmers everywhere.  Having succeeded after many years of work, he discovered that he had violated some 70 different patents held by companies in the process of creating Golden Rice.  Eventually the companies agreed that the rice could be made available and the project is now being overseen by a group called  the Golden Rice Humanitarian Board, chaired by the now-retired Professor Ingo Potrykus.  Potrykus also admits to being shocked at the extent to which he was villified by groups and individuals who are against using molecular techniques to improve crops.  Currently, the rice is being improved and field tested.  It too must pass through a long regulatory process before it is released. In addition to field tests, the rice is being tested for the bioavailability of the vitamin A precursor and for palatability (how good it tastes).  A recent breakthrough at Syngenta will allow a much higher level of beta-carotene expression than was possible previously.  Unfortunately, even today, Golden Rice is not available  to be grown and consumed, primarily because of the cumbersome and prolonged regulatory process required in many countries before the release of a crop modified by molecular techniques.