Ricestarting small with a Genetically Modified food product

Teri Wright

Why Rice?• Areas where rice is a daily food

source• Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal,

South Africa, The Philippines, and Vietnam

• Humanitarian project• Deliver a traditional crop with an added

trait or traits• Increased income to areas of poverty

• Sustainable Crop• Familiar to farmers• Familiar to population

http://www.terradaily.com/images/bowl-white-rice-bg.jpg

What Genetic Modifications?

• Less enviromental harm– Increased absorption of CO2 for use

in photosynthesis

• Increased yeilds– Use of up to 35% less agricultural

land

• Increased nutritional value– Golden rice (beta carotine)– Iron and Zinc

Can you see the difference?Vitamin A deficiency (VAD)

• Impaired vision

• Irreversible blindness

• Exposure to infection

• Reduced Immune response

• Malaria

• Impaired hematopoiesis

• Skeletal growth

How it’s made!• Biochemical pathway for β-

carotene production in the grain• Two genes used

– Daffodils (2005 replaced by Maize)– Erwinia uredovora, a soil bacterium

• Expression in the Rice Endosperm

•Concentration of β-carotene golden color

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pakora/436917081/

http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/b/be/belriose/325894_maize.jpg

Potential of ONE seed

• Potential for 20,000 tons of rice in 2 years– Feeds 100,000 for an

entire year– Reducing Vitamin A

malnutrition

One Seed

One Plant

1000 Seeds

Social Controversy“If some people decide that they want blind

children and white rice, it’s their decision. I’m offering the possibility of yellow rice and no blind children. But the decision what people want to eat is theirs." Dr. Potrykus

“Malnutrition is not merely a nutrition problem, it is also a social problem.” Dr. Samson Tsou

Greenpeace claimed Golden Rice is “not effective” and “superfluous”

Political Controversy

• Delayed processes• Permits• Lack of support

• Regulatory requirements• Large corporations• Public sector

– Loss of investments and opportunities– Increase cost

Coming Soon!

• Golden Rice should be on Sale in the Philippines by 2012

References• Text

– http://www.goldenrice.org/PDFs/The_Golden_Rice_Project_Mayer_et_al_2006.pdf

– http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech-info/articles/biotech-art/potrykus.html– http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech-info/articles/biotech-art/potrykus.html– http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,98034,00.html– http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/pdf/10.1641/0006-

3568(2005)055%5B0726%3ATGRCUS%5D2.0.CO%3B2?cookieSet=1– http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=18– http://www.pr-inside.com/golden-rice-on-sale-by-r1059490.htm

• Photo– http://search.msn.com/images/results.aspx?

q=golden+rice&FORM=MSNH11#focal=ea94962576061e4814f7e8686263fec7&furl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.macalester.edu%2Fenvironmentalstudies%2Fstudents%2Fprojects%2Fcitizenscience2007%2Fgeneticallymodifiedcrops%2Fimages%2Fgoldenrice.jpg

– http://www.goldenrice.org/image/silver+gold.jpg– http://www.chefnoah.com/images/White%20Rice.jpg– http://www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/2371078982/– http://img.alibaba.com/photo/101434868/White_Rice_100_Grade_B.jpg– http://www.atdforum.org/IMG/jpg/Golden_Rice.jpg