Here comes Golden Rice, slated for field-testing this year and hopefully on
your table soon after.Golden Rice, one of the parents of the 3-in-1 rice, is
genetically modified since it has 23 times more carotenoid (pro-Vitamin A).
Two genes from other organisms were inserted to provide beta-carotene
production, giving the rice grain its yellow color?and name.

The new variety is called the 3-in-1 rice, because, together with
beta-carotene, it also contains genes resistant to tungro (a plant virus)
and bacterial leaf blight infections.

It is the first of its kind as it will contain three important traits never
before found at the same time in a rice variety, according to the Philippine
Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), which is developing the new variety.

The seven-year Golden Rice breeding project started in 2004 when PhilRice
received genetically modified Golden Rice grains donated by the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation.

Field-testing is required because Golden Rice is a japonica variety that
thrives in temperate climates, but not in tropical settings.

If it proves suitable, researchers said it would help prevent Vitamin A
deficiency, which affects four out of 10 Filipino children 6 months to 5
years old. According to the 2003 Food and Nutrition Research Council survey,
two of every 10 pregnant and lactating Filipino mothers also suffer from
Vitamin A deficiency.

The rice plant produces beta-carotene in its leaves and stems under normal
conditions but not in its grains. A rice-based diet contributes to the high
prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency, particularly among the poor who cannot
afford to include vegetables, meat and other foods rich in Vitamin A in
their meals on a daily basis.

The deficiency weakens the immune system and causes night blindness, corneal
ulcerations and blindness.

Stored in the liver, Vitamin A is important in vision, bone growth, the
immune system, reproduction lactation among women and formation and
maintenance of healthy teeth, skeletal and soft tissue, the mucous membrane
and skin.

A PhilRice study concluded that it would cost P149 million from research and
development to commercialization. Benefits in improved health and increased
rice production will outweigh the expenses, the agency reported.

According to Von Mark Cruz of the International Service for the Acquisition
of Agricultural Biotech Applications (ISAAA), Filipinos will consume 33,000
tons of rice a day this year.

Resistance

Golden Rice is expected to help boost rice production because of its
resistance to rice tungro and bacterial leaf blight.

Tungro rice disease is the most damaging viral disease of rice in the
Philippines, particularly in the major rice-growing areas like Isabela,
Nueva Ecija, Camarines Sur, Albay, Bohol and North Cotabato.

There is no pesticide against the green leafhopper, which transmits the
infection from diseased to healthy plants.

Bacterial leaf blight occurs in irrigated lowlands where farmers in places
like Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Ifugao, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Bulacan
plant susceptible varieties like IR64.

Bacterial leaf blight, which is more prevalent and destructive during the
wet season, causes poor and low grain quality as it increases the number of
underdeveloped grains and reduces weight.

Consumption of Golden Rice would not lead to Vitamin A overdose because it
contains only the Vitamin A precursor beta-carotene used by the body when it
suffers from Vitamin A deficiency, proponents said.

Beta-carotene is not known to be toxic. Even if the intake is high, any
excess is excreted or stored in the body as beta-carotene, then converted to
Vitamin A only when the body needs it.

There is no danger of Vitamin A toxicity in 3-in-1 rice as there is no
Vitamin A in Golden Rice, only the nontoxic carotenoid precursors that
enable the human body to make Vitamin A, researchers said.

PhilRice is likely to be one of the first in Asia to conduct field trials of
Golden Rice.

PhilRice and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) are also
conducting field trials of genetically modified rice that is resistant to
bacterial blight?the only such research approved for field trials in the
country.

The so-called Bacterial Blight Rice is genetically designed by inserting
into IR72 a gene from a wild rice variety that is resistant to the bacterial
leaf blight.

According to Masipag (Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng
Agrikultura), PhilRice is also conducting research into genetically modified
rice that is resistant to diseases such as tungro and stem borers, although
neither PhilRice nor the rice institute has applied for field-testing for
these genetically modified rice.

The research addresses only one of many problems faced by rice farmers, the
group added, an environmental organization against the cultivation and
commercialization of genetically modified products.

?Unfortunately, varieties such as IR72 that are being genetically modified
to be resistant to bacterial blight are also susceptible to many other
diseases and pests found in the Philippines such as sheath blight, golden
snail, tungro virus, etc.,? it said.

?The unresolved safety issue on GM [genetically modified] products poses a
grave threat to the health of rice consumers,? the group said in a briefing
paper.

?This is particularly unnerving for a country where 88.6 million people are
dependent on rice as a staple,? it said, adding 80 percent of the population
spend 60 percent of their income on food and 40 percent of that amount is
spent on buying rice.
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