Title:
Long History, Unclear Future for 'Golden Rice'
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
White rice is the world's most popular form of rice.
But it goes through a milling process that removes
many nutrients. As a result, people who eat a poor
diet based on white rice may not get enough vitamin
A. Each year an estimated two hundred fifty thousand
to half a million children go blind from vitamin A
deficiency. The World Health Organization says half
of them die within a year of losing their sight.
Vitamin A deficiency is a problem especially in
Africa and Southeast Asia.So scientists thought of
an answer. They combined white rice with plant
compounds that the body can change into vitamin A.
The rice contains beta-carotene and other
carotenoids. These plant colorings give the rice a
golden color. The scientists also thought of a plan
to give away this Golden Rice for free to poor
farmers. But the rice is genetically engineered.
They say it cannot be made using traditional methods
to breed plants. The scientists worked for ten
years, until nineteen ninety, to develop the
technology to add genes to rice. Then it took nine
more years to get the genes they wanted into the
seed. The first field tests took place in two
thousand four at Louisiana State University in the
United States. Golden Rice is currently being tested
in the Philippines. It is still not available for
general use.Co-inventor Ingo Potrykus says rice with
two added genes will be available in the year
twenty-thirteen. One gene comes from maize, or corn,
and the other from a soil bacterium.Mr. Potrykus is
retired from the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology. He blames the delays on too many rules
about genetically modified crops. Opponents say such
crops may cause environmental damage by breeding
with conventional plants. Opponents also question
the safety of biotech foods.Mr. Potrykus says Golden
Rice has never been shown to be unsafe for the
environment or people. Many agricultural
organizations support the project. But there are
also critics, including researchers for the
environmental group Greenpeace. Several months ago
they questioned whether Golden Rice could do much
for vitamin A deficiency. They said releasing
genetically modified rice in Asia could permanently
change traditional rice varieties and wild ancestors
of rice. For VOA Special English, I'm Carolyn
Presutti. For more news about rice research, go to
voaspecialenglish.com.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
