"Golden rice", a type of biofortified white rice, was originally intended for use in Asia (where rice can make up to 80 percent of the daily diet) to solve the VAD [vitamin a deficiency] crisis. It was engineered to increase its production of beta-carotene (not usually found in rice), which is converted into vitamin A by the human liver, by a factor of (nearly) 20. First introduced by professors Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer in 1999, it was created by integrating a gene from the daffodil Narcissus pseudonarcissus (which produces an enzyme known as phyotene synthase), and another gene from the bacterium Erwinia uredovora (which produces an enzyme called phyotene desaturase) to the rice's genome. This genetically modification enables beta-carotene to accumulate in the endosperm (the edible part) of the rice plant.
In 2004, golden rice was improved by the same researchers who developed its original form (hence, it is referred to as golden rice 2), which resulted in a 23-fold increase in the production of carotenoid.
VAD is responsible for more than one million deaths annually and half a million cases of irreversible blindness (in children). The deficiency is severe in more than 120 developing countries, many of which rely on a high consumption of regular rice, and is responsible for 6% and 8% of all child mortality in Africa and Southeast Asia, respectively. According to the WHO [World Health Organization], 250 million children worldwide are exposed to VAD, and among these, 500,000 lose their sight every year.
Despite this, only the Government of The Philippines has authorised the direct use of GR2E Golden Rice in food, feed, and for processing. With concerns regarding its usefulness and potential health risks, no other country has any definitive plan on growing the crop, almost a decade after its invention. “Golden Rice has not been made available to those for whom it was intended in the 20 years since it was created,” states the science writer Ed Regis. “Had it been allowed to grow in these nations, millions of lives would not have been lost to malnutrition, and millions of children would not have gone blind.”
One of the reasons for this is, in contrast to most other GMOs, its contentious effectivity. As it contains solely 1.6 micrograms beta-carotene per gram, or 0.00063‰, it is generally believed that the crop does not produce enough beta-carotene to eradicate VAD. The UN agency UNICEF, for example, is already employing vitamin A supplementation programs that improves a child’s survival rate by 12-24% with the price of only a few cents. In addition, the rice plant is not able to address the countless additional social, economic, and cultural factors that contribute to vitamin A deficiencies.
Over the years, Greenpeace — one of the greatest opposers to Genetically Modified Organisms — has insisted that the development of Golden Rice was diverting resources from dealing with general global poverty. On its website, Greenpeace International declares that "Golden rice is a proposed but not practically viable crop solution that has never been brought to market", and that "It is also environmentally irresponsible and could compromise food, nutrition and financial security.”
Nevertheless, Ian Godwin — a professor of plant molecular genetics at the University of Queensland in Australia — says his review of the academic literature contradicts claims by Greenpeace and GE Free NZ that Golden Rice isn’t a good source of vitamin A, and that "GE Free NZ is relying on old data based on the original Golden Rice variety from the 1990s,". According to a 2009 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the improved Golden Rice strain, being tested in the Philippines and Bangladesh, is as effective as vitamin A capsules and works better than the natural beta-carotene found in spinach.
*Daily consumption of a very modest amount of Golden Rice — about a cup — could supply 50% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A for an adult,
Engineered with genes that boost its beta-carotene content, golden rice (top) comes with a yellowish hue that makes it stand out from typical white rice (bottom) Photo: International Rice Research Institute.
Dr. Ingo Potrykus Photo: TIME.