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Non-profit against hunger "Golden Rice" one of the most influential projects of the last 50 years
10.10.2019 - Golden rice is many times richer in which the body converts into vitamin A. This vitamin provitamin A than other rice varieties. In this way it is called beta-carotene. People who eat mainly rice can counteract the deficiency symptoms suffered by therefore often suffer from vitamin A deficiency. Eye many people worldwide for whom rice is the staple diseases, blindness and increased infant mortality food. Prof. Dr. Peter Beyer, emeritus professor at are the consequences. The team led by Beyer and the Institute of Biology at the University of Freiburg, Potrykus used two foreign genes - from a bacterium and Prof. Dr. Ingo Potrykus, emeritus professor at and from the maize plant - to cultivate golden rice, the Institute of Plant Sciences at the Swiss Feder- the yellow colour of which is due to the increased al Institute of Technology Zurich/Switzerland, devel- beta-carotene content. oped genetically modified rice in the 1990s. Now the Project Management Institute (PMI) has hon- In 2000, Beyer and Potrykus donated the technology oured the Golden Rice as one of the most influential behind their research work: they founded the non- projects of the last 50 years and included it in the profit "Golden Rice" project, which aims to spread Top 10 list in the category "Health". the rice variety and thus combat the health damage caused by a vitamin A deficiency.
The PMI, an American project management associ- ation with more than 550,000 members in over 200 countries, would like to use its list of the most influen- tial projects compiled by experts from research and industry to show what a central role project work has played in shaping the present positively. Golden rice is an important technology for combating vitamin A deficiency.
"Every day around 4,500 children die worldwide as a result of the so-called diet-related immunodefi- Uni Freiberg ciency syndrome, the vitamin A deficiency," explains Potrykus. "Many more go blind. The need for golden In ready-cooked rice grains there are only small rice is clear and it is registered as safe in Australia, traces of beta-carotene, also known as provitamin A, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. It can con-
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tribute as an additional measure against vitamin A deficiency without any cost to farmers or consumers. Regulatory dossiers have been submitted in major developing countries. All that's missing now is health professionals to accept the Golden Rice."
"It is a particular challenge to develop a prototype that certifies feasibility into a product. This requires a lot of specific knowledge and experience beyond research," adds Beyer. "The award and our thanks therefore go also to all those who have helped with perseverance and to those who have supported the project with long breath.
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