Golden Rice Researcher Talks about Pro-Poor Transgenics

The collaboration between Peter Beyer and Ingo Potrykus, a retired professor of Plant Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, produced a strain of rice enriched with a vitamin A precursor. The rice, known as Golden Rice because of its color, was designed to reduce the ravages of blindness among many people in poor countries unable to afford a proper mixed diet with adequate vitamins. In response to a consultation on a forthcoming report to be published by World Bank, Potrykus commented on the potential benefits of genetically modified (GM) crops for the poor.

Potrykus agrees that the slow progress in transgenics is due to lack of funding for this kind of research, especially in public institutions, both in developing countries and in the West. However, this is not the overwhelming cause for the “slow progress”, according to Potrykus. What hinders progress in transgenic research is the system of "extreme precautionary regulation" established around the world. This regulatory system prevents the use of GMO-technology for the benefit of the poor, and paralyzes public institutions. In the context of Golden Rice, poor people in developing countries are being robbed of an opportunity for health improvement because of the delay in the adoption of traits imposed by regulatory requirements.

Read the complete article at http://www.cropgen.org/article_120.html.