Golden Rice Saves Lives! Greenpeace Hates It!

The story about Golden Rice will tell you everything you know everything you need to know about the Green Movement!

Last month, we reported on a study demonstrating the hugely beneficial effects of genetically modified “golden rice” that provided children in China with adequate levels of vitamin A. For the study, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in August, researchers from Tufts Medical Center and the Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences in China looked at 68 children and found that, based on blood tests taken over three weeks, golden rice was as effective as vitamin A supplements and worked even better than spinach to provide kids with vitamin A.

And since vitamin A deficiency kills 670,000 children under five each year while causing blindness in an additional 250,000 to 500,000, the genetically modified golden rice has been heralded as a major public health breakthrough…….But thanks to the activists at Greenpeace, access to this promising product, which was developed over a decade ago, may be even further delayed. That’s because the group is claiming that the study researchers did not obtain consent from the children or their parents, and thus these unsuspecting participants were put at risk in a “dangerous” study of genetically engineered rice…..“It’s amazing how, when environmental groups attempt to weigh in on human health issues, they always come down on the wrong side of everything,” says ACSH’s Dr. Josh Bloom. “They should go pick up gum wrappers at Coney Island and stay out of medicine.”

A Golden Age of Rice?
Last year, ACSH reported on progress involving new developments in “Golden Rice.” Developed by Ingo Potrykus of The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) about ten years ago, it portends to become the world’s first-ever beta-carotene-rich grain. Now, a recent study has found that Golden Rice is just as effective and even better than supplements and many foods in supplying children and adults with their daily requirement for Vitamin A. The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, tested Golden Rice against both spinach and supplements in providing Vitamin A to 68 six-to eight-year-olds in China. Based on blood tests taken over three weeks, researchers found that the golden rice was as effective as the capsules at giving kids a boost of Vitamin A. Furthermore, the rice worked even better than the natural beta-carotene found in spinach.

Genetically modified rice a good vitamin A source
Genetically modified rice could be a good source of vitamin A for children in countries where deficiency in the vitamin is common, a new study suggests.  The study tested so-called Golden Rice against both spinach and supplements in providing vitamin A to 68 six- to eight-year-olds in China. Researchers found that the rice was as effective as the capsules in giving kids a boost of vitamin A, based on blood tests taken over three weeks. And it worked better than the natural beta-carotene in spinach, the researchers report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Normally, rice plants produce beta-carotene - a precursor to vitamin A - in their green parts, but not the grain that people eat. Golden Rice is genetically engineered to produce beta-carotene in the edible part of the plant.

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“It’s amazing how, when environmental groups attempt to weigh in on human health issues, they always come down on the wrong side of everything,” says ACSH’s Dr. Josh Bloom. “They should go pick up gum wrappers at Coney Island and stay out of medicine.”


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