Reuters, AP | January 13, 2000
WASHINGTON - Wire coverage of the report in Science that researchers had successfully genetically engineered a golden rice that produces extra vitamin A, describing it as a feat that could help save the lives of millions of children.
Eventually, the reserachers hope to develop a rice that contains a full day's value of vitamin A in an average day's intake.
The stories note that the researchers did was not transfer a single gene, but the entire genetic pathway for producing beta-carotene - the precursor of vitamin A - into the rice plant. This included three genes, one from a daffodil, and two from other plants.
The researchers wrote that, "In most cases, the transformed endosperms were yellow, indicating carotenoid formation," and that some of them also had, to some degree, the related nutrients lutein and zeaxanthin, which are also important to eye health.
The stories also note that in a commentary, Mary Lou Guerinot at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire was cited as calling the work a "technical tour de force" considering that most traits engineered until now have only required introducing a single gene.
The researchers noted that in most countries, rice is polished to take off the tough outer shell, both for flavor and because the husk can go rancid, writing that, "The remaining edible part of rice grains, the endosperm, lacks several essential nutrients, such as provitamin A. Thus, predominant rice consumption promotes vitamin A deficiency, a serious public health problem in at least 26 countries, including highly populated areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America."
Vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness - that is why carrots have long been considered good for vision - to total blindness.
Health experts estimate that 124 million children worldwide are deficient in vitamin A, which can also make them more susceptible to diseases such as measles and diarrhea. Nutritionists believe anywhere from 1 to 2 million children die each year because of inadequate nutrition.
The new crop, dubbed "golden rice" because of the hue the beta carotene gives it, is not expected to be available to farmers for several years.
Also, scientists still have to determine if the altered rice loses any of the original rice's nutritional value.
Nonetheless, the International Rice Research Institute already is working on breeding the new trait into popular varieties.
The Rockefeller Foundation, the lead sponsor of the rice research, views biotechnology as a solution to world hunger, and also wants to develop crops that would be resistant to drought, pests and soil toxins. Scientists believe it eventually will be possible to put iron and other nutrients in plants once the genetic pathways are known.
Mary Lou Guerinot, the Dartmouth College biologist who wrote the Science commentary, said the biotech rice could improve the industry's image because it was developed without commercial funding and will be easily available to farmers, adding, "One can only hope that this application of plant genetic engineering to ameliorate human misery without regard to short-term profit will restore this technology to political acceptability."
Critics of biotech crops were cited as saying not enough is known about their safety or effect on the environment. While acknowledging the potential benefit of the rice, they say that should not be used to block efforts to require stricter regulation. Rebecca Goldburg, senior scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, was quoted as saying, "I certainly agree that certain applications of biotechnology can have great social value, but that in no way obviates other concerns."
Per Pinstrup-Andersen, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute was cited as saying that getting consumers to accept the yellowish rice also could be a challenge and they will have to be convinced the rice will prevent blindness and other health problems, adding, "You're changing the color of a very basic food staple for millions of people, and that's never easy. But I think it can be done."
