Saving lives one piece of rice at a time! Kandice Cantrell The National Feed the World Organization A GMO CORP.

GMO Background What is a Genetically Modified Organism? plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses or other plants and animals. These experimental combinations of genes from different species cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding. How do you create a genetically modified organism? A genetically modified organism is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using techniques in genetics generally known as recombinant DNA technology. Recombinant DNA technology is the ability to combine DNA molecules from different sources into the one molecule.

Cont'd Recombinant DNA is placed in rice in hopes of creating new concepts for combating pests and diseases, prevention of vitamin deficiencies, and developing allergen free rice. This may also be used in other organisms for pest resistance, herbicide tolerance, disease resistance, and drought tolerance.

My company focuses on genetically modified rice Rice makes up the main food source for almost half of the world's population. Golden Rice has been created with the aim of producing significant amounts of β-carotene to account for Vitamin A deficiency. genetically modifying the rice species is done through the addition of two genes, phytoene synthase and phytoene desaturase, the β-carotene accumulates in the edible endosperm

Who did it first? (1999) The first breakthrough in the development of Golden Rice was the result of a collaboration between Peter Beyer and Ingo Potrykus. These efforts led to the development of the first generation of Golden Rice (GR1). This version did not carry enough Vitamin A to make up for the current deficiencies. (2005) Thus the second generation was created by addition of two genes, phytoene synthase and phytoene desaturase the addition of these genes caused a much higher production of the β-carotene giving the rice a deep golden color and the ability to fight vitamin A deficiencies. This process has been confirmed by crossing the trait into a number of varieties by breeding.

The image clearly shows the progress made since the proof-of-concept stage of Golden Rice. The new generation, contains β-carotene levels that will provide adequate amounts of provitamin A in children's diets in SE Asia.

Current Uses A typical diet containing GR2 has a great potential to help alleviate vitamin A deficiency-induced diseases. Such as blindness and death. Many other types of rice are genetically modified for pest resistance, herbicide tolerance, disease resistance, and drought tolerance.

Pros Smallholder farmers in developing countries will be able to get Golden Rice without additional charges and they are free to save the seeds for replanting. Save on costs for vitamin A injections, and spread the vitamin to all people instead of just the children.

Cons Some say that Vitamin Deficiencies are not as important as vegetable production. Like with any other genetically modified organisms there are scientific draw backs such as mutations that can lead to health issues with the consumption of golden rice. Vitamin A is fat soluble, so you will need fat in your diet to be able to intake the vitamin A, unfortunately for Golden Rice, adequate protein and fat are not readily available in developing nations where the grain is targeted at.

Ethics Golden Rice has yet to be tested on people and the environment causing concerns for the health and ethical social worlds. Activist groups such as Greenpace do not believe that malnutrition will be solved by Golden rice. Is it fair to use developing nations as guinea pigs in this experiment?

Saving lives Small children are most susceptible to micronutrient deficiencies. Initially a VAD affects their eyesight, but at the same time it impairs their immune system, and children fall prey to common infectious diseases. Vitamin A and zinc alone could save more than a third of the 12 million children who die annually because of malnutrition worldwide. In 2012 the World Health Organization reported that about 250 million preschool children are affected by VAD, and that providing those children with vitamin A could prevent about a third of all under-five deaths, which amounts to up to 2.7 million children that could be saved from dying unnecessarily. However the traditional method to provide it is very expensive and only the children are provided with the vitamin A shots not the adults. Rice containing provitamin A could substantially reduce the problems described above. This can only be achieved using genetic engineering because there is no provitamin A in the rice seeds, even though it is present in the leaves.

Sources compass.org/eng/grocery_shopping/crops/24.genetically_modified _rice.html rice-seen-from-the-ground