Biotech Updates

Golden Rice Research to Continue Despite Field Trial Vandalism

August 22, 2013

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) were unfazed by the uprooting of Golden Rice on trial as they will continue the research of the crop seeing the technology as a potential way to reduce vitamin A deficiency.

IRRI's Deputy Director General of Communications and Partnerships Bruce Tolentino said that Golden Rice research is part of the institute's humanitarian work to reduce vitamin A deficiency that mostly affects women and children – causing sickness, blindness, and even death. In the Philippines, vitamin A deficiency affects approximately 1.7 million children (15.2%) aged six months to five years. Subclinical vitamin A deficiency affects one out of every ten pregnant women.

Golden Rice field trials are being conducted in the Philippines by PhilRice and IRRI. The field trials have been permitted by DA-BPI, the national regulatory authority in the Philippines for crop biotechnology research and development, after establishing that the trials will pose no significant risks to human health and environment.

See IRRI's news release at http://www.irri.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=12638:malnutrition-fight-not-over-golden-rice-research-continues&lang=en.