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Researchers in the United Kingdom have developed a new variety of
genetically enhanced rice that has more than 20 times the level of
betacarotene ? which the human body can transform into healthful vitamin A ?
found in an earlier variety. And that could help alleviate a variety of
diseases, including blindness, in the developing world, April 2005.

In a peer-reviewed article in Nature Biotechnology, researchers from the
biotech company Syngenta said the second generation of golden rice they
developed has 23 times more betacarotene than the first generation developed
five years ago.

"This new development is further evidence that golden rice could complement
existing efforts that seek to end blindness and other diseases caused by
vitamin A deficiency," said a statement from the Golden Rice Humanitarian
Board, which oversees the development of the enhanced rice. "Golden rice is
but one tool in a larger toolbox from which country health officials,
farmers and consumers could choose in their efforts to fight vitamin A
deficiency."

Instead of inserting a gene from daffodils into the rice, as had been done
with the first golden rice variety, the researchers borrowed a similar gene
from corn and added it to the rice.

"We found it made a dramatic difference," Rachel Drake, head of Syngenta's
research team in the U.K. that developed the new rice, told New Scientist
magazine. "I'm absolutely delighted, and I think it's a very compelling
story."

Vitamin A deficiency is responsible for up to 500,000 cases of childhood
blindness ? and between 2 and 3 million deaths ? each year and also is a
contributing factor in causing other infectious diseases, according to the
World Health Organization.

It's estimated that up to 40 percent of children in the developing world
under the age of five suffer from immune system weaknesses associated with a
deficiency of vitamin A, with most of the problems concentrated in Southeast
Asia and Africa.

Syngenta has agreed to donate seeds and research from the second generation
of golden rice to the Golden Rice Humanitarian Board so they can be
distributed ? once the necessary government approvals are obtained ? to
farmers around the world.

The new golden rice may well help silence biotech critics, who have claimed
that the first generation of golden rice did not contain enough betacarotene
to make a significant impact on vitamin A deficiency.

Whereas the first generation of golden rice had just 1.6 micrograms of
golden rice per gram of rice, the improved variety has 37 micrograms per
gram of rice. Researchers say there is enough betacarotene in a single 72
gram serving of rice ? slightly more than the typical child's serving of 60
grams ? to prevent night blindness and vitamin A deficiency in children.

And since rice is frequently eaten several times a day in Asia, the newer
strain of golden rice could deliver even more vitamin A.

Before the second generation of golden rice is commercially produced, it
must first be approved by the countries where it is to be planted, which
could take several more years.

The Golden Rice Humanitarian Board has expressed frustration with the
slowness of the approval process given that between 2 and 3 million children
die each year from illnesses linked to vitamin A deficiency.

"While the Humanitarian Board understands that every new transgenic event
must comply with regulations to guarantee the safety of the product, it has
a hard time dealing with nonscientific arguments that unnecessarily delay
the adoption of the technology vis-avis the human tragedy brought about by
vitamin A deficiency," the board's Web site said.

The board is led by Ingo Potrykus, professor emeritus of the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, and Prof. Peter Beyer of the
University of Freiburg in Germany, who headed the research team that
developed the first version of golden rice. It also includes representatives
from the International Rice Research Institute, the philanthropic
Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, universities and other organizations.

The board also noted that golden rice has been in development since 1980 and
that "reputed ecologists, including opponents of the technology, have so far
concluded that golden rice poses no imaginable risk to the environment." It
suggested that opposition to biotechnology is based more on politics than
sound science.

Since the first generation of golden rice was unveiled in 1999-2000,
however, several promising developments may help to move the approval
process forward:

? Developing world farmers have embraced biotechnology. An estimated 8.25
million farmers in 17 countries now plant biotech crops, according to the
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications. 2004
marked the ninth straight year that the planting of biotech crops increased
by double-digit levels.

? In 2002 the Philippines became the first country in Asia to approve the
commercial planting of a biotech food crop ? corn ? for human consumption.
(Several Asian countries already permit the planting of biotech cotton.)

? China and several other Asian countries are moving closer to approving
different varieties of biotech rice for planting.

The Golden Rice Humanitarian Board said that while the new rice is an
exciting advance, it does not offer the sole solution to malnutrition in
developing countries.

"Malnutrition is rooted in political, economic and cultural issues that
cannot be magically resolved by a single agricultural technology," the board
said. "Golden rice offers developing countries another choice in the broader
campaign against malnutrition."

[www.whybiotech.com]

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