Scientists behind 'golden rice' GM crop to receive humanitarian award from the White House

[progressoid]

The scientists who invented vitamin-enriched “golden rice” will receive a humanitarian award tomorrow from the White House in Washington for developing a staple food that could save the lives of millions of people in the developing world.

Golden rice is genetically manipulated to turn on the genes for making beta-carotene, a nutritional precursor the body needs to manufacture its own vitamin A. These genes are switched off in ordinary white rice which can lead to severe vitamin A deficiency causing tens of millions of cases of blindness and death each year, mainly in South East Asia.

Environmental campaigners opposed to golden rice have organised the destruction of experimental field trials on the grounds that the GM rice represents a high-tech “quick fix” to vitamin A deficiency without addressing the underlying problems of poverty and poor nutrition.

...

Vitamin A deficiency is a leading killer of children globally, accounting for between 2m and 3m deaths per year, as well as causing about 500,000 cases of blindness annually. White rice is the main daily staple crop for about 3.5bn people in the world, even though it is deficient in vitamin A, which is typically found in meat and leafy vegetables.

Supporters of golden rice said that it could have been introduced a decade ago but opposition by environmentalists has held up its regulatory approval, leading to the preventable death and blindness of tens of millions of people.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-behind-golden-rice-gm-crop-to-receive-humanitarian-award-from-the-white-house-10187978.html

[SoLeftIAmRight]

1. What kind of world do we live in that 3.5b people

exist with rice as the primary food source?

[Thor_MN]

3. A world with 7 billion people.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

4. you get my point

GMO OMG rice does little to solve the real problem

[Thor_MN]

5. It kicks the can down the road a little bit.

[NickB79]

6. Almost all people on this planet subsist primarily on just a few food crops

http://www.businessinsider.com/10-crops-that-feed-the-world-2011-9#

Corn, rice, wheat, and potatoes along probably supply well over 70% of the planet's calories.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

7. so sad and so true

Be well

[trotsky]

2. K&R

This has made a huge difference in the lives of so many people.