Good evening, ladies and gentleman, I’ve been invited to your meeting to inform you about genetically modified rice and how it might help to solve some dietary problems in the third world. My name is Riceleezza Conde and I am an independent dietary expert working for WHO, the World Health Organization. I have organised my talk in the following way. I will start with an explanation of how genetically modified rice, or golden rice, was created, then I will turn to the reasons that led to its production, afterwards, I will speak about a controversy that has broken out over the issue, I will also mention some causes of Vitamin A deficiency and finally I will suggest possible solutions to the problem. Feel free to ask any questions you like as we go along. And don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of time left over for questions at the end.
Let’s start with creation of golden rice. Golden rice is a variety of rice, Oryza sativa in Latin, produced through genetic modification to biosynthesize the precursors of beta-carotene (pro-vitamin A) in the edible parts of rice. You may ask why it is necessary to produce genetically modified rice. Well, golden rice was developed in the year 2000 as a fortified food to be used in areas where there is a shortage of dietary vitamin A. In 2005, a new variety called Golden Rice 2 was announced, which produces up to 23 times more beta-carotene than the original variety. Neither variety is currently available for human consumption. Here in the picture, you can compare all three types of rice. Normal rice is here - bottom right. Golden rice can be seen on the left and Golden Rice 2 is top right.
The research that led to golden rice was conducted with the goal of helping children who suffer from Vitamin A deficiency (VAD). I’d like you to look at this map, which shows the important vitamin A deficiency areas in the world. They are in red. The rest you can read from the legend.
At the beginning of the 21st century, 124 million people, in 118 countries in Africa and South East Asia, were estimated to be affected by VAD. VAD is also responsible for 1-2 million deaths, 500,000 cases of irreversible blindness and millions of cases of xerophthalmia annually. Children and pregnant women are at highest risk. Some countries have vitamin A supplementation programs. Vitamin A is supplemented orally and by injection in areas where the diet is deficient in Vitamin A. However, as many children in countries where there is a dietary deficiency in Vitamin A rely on rice as a staple food, the genetic modification to make rice produce provitamin A is seen as a simple and less expensive alternative to vitamin supplements or an increase in the consumption of green vegetables or animal products. It can be considered as the genetically engineered equivalent of fluoridated water or iodized salt.
Well, so far we have spoken about positive aspects of GM rice. Although it was developed as a humanitarian tool, it has met with significant opposition from environmental and anti-globalization activists. Let’s have a look at some of their arguments now. The growing globalisation of agriculture is a trend that worries some. They are concerned that golden rice is a Trojan horse that will “open the door” to more widespread use of genetically modified organisms.
Another argument against GMOs is that the problem is not particular deficiencies in the crops themselves, but problems with poverty and loss of biodiversity in food crops. These problems are aggravated by the corporate control of agriculture based on genetically modified foods.
Similarly other groups have argued that a varied diet containing vitamin A rich foods like sweet potato, leafy green vegetables and fruit would provide children with sufficient vitamin A. While this is true, others also contend that a varied diet is beyond the means of the many of the poor, which they say is why they subsist on a diet of rice. And this conciliatory tone brings me to the end of my presentation. Let me just run over the key points again. First I looked at the creation of golden rice and explained why it had been produced. Then I presented a few arguments against GM rice pronounced by some environmental and anti-globalist campaigners and finally presented some causes of the third world dietary crisis resulting in vitamin A deficiency. To conclude, I would like to turn your attention to theoretical analyses of the potential nutritional benefits of golden rice which show that consumption of golden rice would not eliminate the problems of blindness and increased mortality, but should be seen as a complement to other methods of Vitamin A supplementation such as varied diet, injections and oral supplementation. OK, that´s all. Thank you very much for your attention. Now, I’d be happy to answer any questions.
-Sorry, you said something like GM or GMOs what does that mean? -Yes, GM is an abbreviation of genetically modified and GMO genetically modified organism.
- May I ask about the development? You said the first rice was developed in 2000. Do you know how long the development actually took? - Well, I am sorry I don’t know the exact time for this one but I would guess a few years definitely. Well, I’ll check it out and let you know. Oh, sorry, here it is – it started in 1992.
- Sorry, you mentioned some illness, zero something, could explain what it is? -Yes, of course, xerophthalmia, it is a malfunction of eyes caused by a deficiency in Vitamin A. The eyes fail to produce tears. You simply cannot cry.
OK, that´s it.