The corn is the staple food for two billion people, mostly in Asia. But is devoid of retinol; vitamin A deficiency causes blindness and other serious diseases. An experiment has enabled the creation of GM variant called golden rice. Controversy over experiment in China kept secret from families. But Manila will promote the production by distributing seeds.

Manila (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A GMO rice to fight hunger, malnutrition and the suffering of more than 250 million children from various health issues due to lack of retinol. This is the contribution to research provided by two scientists who have produced a GMO variety of rice - the staple food for two billion people, mostly in Asia - that also contains pro-vitamin A, essential for sight and immune system. However, the food is at the center of fierce controversy related to methods of research used to verify if the product contained possible hazards for organisms at a genetic level. And, more generally, a confrontation between supporters of genetic engineering in food and those who denounce the risks of disease, even serious ones, related to the experiments and products.

The "golden rice" is a variety of rice produced in early 2000, but only eight years later - because of controversy in the academic world - sowing began in some countries, including the Philippines. Among the obstacles, as well as the opposition of bio movements, there is also a legal dispute on the rights related to a number of patents. The main feature of the product is the presence of vitamin A - absent in natural rice - an essential factor for the growth and development of bones, epithelial structures and reproductive organs, in addition to sight and to strengthening the immune system.

Every year at least 500 thousand children become blind due to lack of retinol in their diet, many more die from infections. The change in rice varieties is therefore a viable alternative in the fight against malnutrition. Designed by Peter Beyer, from the University of Freiburg, and Ingo Potrykus of the Swiss Institute of Technology, the "golden rice" is back in the spotlight thanks to a new controversy.

Greenpeace activists have alerted the Chinese authorities about an experiment carried out in an elementary school in Hunan, where children are given modified rice. A researcher from the Chinese government, involved in the project, was suspended from his post for failure to warn parents, unaware of the experimentation on their children.

It is worth remembering that one of the most controversial issues related to the modified rice revolves around the mode of insertion of vitamin A. The researchers warn that animal or human DNA have not been used, rather they exploited the transfer of common genes from one plant to another taken from the ground, which has been taking place for millennia in nature.

The defenders of the food GMOs explain that there are still many problems to be addressed - including unequal distribution, feudal structures and capitalist economy - but they say that condemning all attempts to solve the problem is "wrong" because "genetic engineering can provide valid solutions against hunger in the world. " From spring 2014 "golden rice" seeds will be distributed to farmers in the Philippines.

 

• asia
• GMO
• grain
• rice
• golden
• vitamin
• A
• child
• malnutrition