GOLDEN RICE

About:

• Why developed?
  • Golden rice was developed almost two decades ago by biologists from Switzerland and Germany as a way to prevent vitamin A deficiency in the developing world.
    
    
  • Lack of vitamin A is a leading cause of childhood blindness and can also make children more susceptible to death from other illness like measles.
    
    
  
  
  
• How was it developed?
  • Vitamin A is made from beta-carotene, which is found in carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables.
    
    
  • To create golden rice, scientists modified rice plants with beta-carotene genes from maize. By doing this, rice plants started to produce the rich orange-coloured pigment.
    
    
  • Then, the transgenic plants were donated to publicly funded research centres to develop their own versions of golden rice using local rice varieties.
    
    
  
  
  
• Opposition:
  • Since the inception of golden rice in the late 1990s, debates have raged over the transgenic crop, considered a genetically modified organism (GM), and it has struggled to gain approval.
    
    
  • Moreover, stringent international regulations such as the Cartagena Protocol have stymied approval of many GM crops.
    
    
  
  
  
• Scenario in Bangladesh:
  • In Bangladesh, the golden rice in question was developed at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Philippines.
    
    
  • This particular version is based on the dhan 29 rice variety widely grown in Bangladesh.
    
    
  • If everything goes to plan, farmers might be planting golden rice seed by 2021.