Our commitment to help in the fight

against vitamin-A deficiency

on 30 October 2014.

inShare
No farmer must be left behind was the challenge addressed to 1,500 scientists and
delegates, hailing from 69 countries, who are here in Bangkok to attend the 4th
International Rice Congress (IRC2014).
This call to action adds all the more to our resolve to continue the research on Golden
Rice, a potential new food-based approach to help fight vitamin A deficiency (VAD), a
form of hidden hunger, said Dr. Violeta Villegas, Golden Rice project coordinator at IRRI.
IRRI remains steadfast because, in addition to farmers, We also believe that no rice
consumer should be left behind, especially women and children, added Villegas.
Hidden hunger is a pervasive and persistent problem affecting more than 2 billion
people worldwide. Specifically, 190 million preschool children and 19 million pregnant
women are still vitamin A-deficient globally. VAD results from a lack of sufficient vitamin
A in the diet. Various programs on dietary diversification, fortification,
and SUPPLEMENTATION have made headways in combating VAD, yet gaps still exist.
In the Philippines, vitamin A deficiency still affects approximately 1.7 million children
(15.2%) aged 6 months to 5 years while in Bangladesh, more than half of preschool and
school children are affected. In Indonesia, 14.6 % of children under five experience subclinical deficiency of vitamin A.
It is true that there are many vegetables and fruits that have high vitamin A content.
However, many of these foods are seasonal and therefore scarce, unavailable, or too
expensive, especially in the far fringes of society. In poor urban areas, limited access to
land for the production of food is another challenge. In the Philippines, only 2 out of 10
children 6-23 months achieve the minimum dietary diversification score. Hence, in
reality, access to diverse, nutritious, and fresh food is a challenge for the poor.
Current vitamin A supplementation programs are prone to limitations in funding and
fluctuations of coverage. Fortification of staple and processed foods faces numerous
challenges in implementation and must be mandatory and subsidized to reach those in
need.

Golden Rice can be a potential sustainable complement to alleviating VAD. The initial
investment in developing and testing Golden Rice can generate new, healthier rice
varieties that farmers can grow for years to come. Because most rice is consumed near
to where it is grown, it is envisioned that there will be low distribution costs for Golden
Rice.
Some groups are keen on stopping the deployment of Golden Rice by raising
speculations that a) it will threaten food security by contaminating traditional rice
varieties, b) it is being forced to farmers and consumers as a complete solution to VAD,
and c) its lengthy development shows that it is a false solution to VAD. The use of
genetic engineering, instead of marker assisted selection, in the development of Golden
Rice is being criticized.
To answer the first point, it is incorrect to speculate that Golden Rice will threaten food
security, said Dr. Villegas. It is unlikely that Golden Rice will contaminate traditional or
conventional rice varieties because rice is typically self-pollinated and cross-pollination
is uncommon. Furthermore, the Golden Rice trait does not confer any selective
advantage, it does not make the plant stronger nor weaker than others. The wild rice
species do not cross readily with cultivated rice varieties even if they are growing close
together and flower at the same time because of incompatibility.
On the second point, Dr. Villegas emphasized that IRRI and its partners have never
claimed that Golden Rice is the silver bullet that will totally solve VAD. We have always
emphasized that Golden Rice will be a complement, not a replacement, to the current
strategies in the fight against VAD. Eating diverse diets, fortification,
and SUPPLEMENTATION must continue. But where and when these are not available or
sustainable, Golden Rice can help address VAD.
Further, like all other technologies developed by IRRI, Golden Rice will be offered as an
option to farmers and consumers. Farmers know how to choose what seeds that will
work best in their specific location, while consumers have the same decision-making
capability in their purchases. When it becomes available, the decision to plant or
consume Golden Rice is left to each individual.
Dr. Villegas answered the third point by saying that the R&D on Golden Rice is still
ongoingbecause we want to ensure that it will bring benefits to those who will plant it,
and those who need it most. It should be noted that IRRIs high-yielding varieties and
farming technologies have enabled increases in production per land area for farmers
and made rice generally more affordable for consumers.
The increased yields obtained through IRRI technologies can help rice farmers to free up
land area to raise other nutritious crops and animals. As rice becomes less expensive for
consumers, households have more money to spend on other things including more

micronutrient and protein-rich foods. For Golden Rice, the research is still ongoing so
that it will have comparable yield as local high-yielding varieties. Hence, it can further
enable farmers and consumers to obtain a diversified diet, which is one way to address
VAD.
Lastly, it should be emphasized that IRRI applies genetic engineering only when the
beneficial traits needed cannot be found within the rice gene pool. Marker assisted
selection is indeed a useful tool for both conventional and modern breeding. However,
surveys of rice germplasm around the world failed to identify any variety that contain
significant amounts of beta carotene, so conventional breeding programs could not be
used to develop Golden Rice.
As a rule of thumb, plant breeders in both public research institutes and private
companies use genetic engineering only in the following situations: 1) the gene of
interest is not found within the crop gene pool, 2) if found in the gene pool, transfer will
be difficult due to incompatibility and other breeding problems or 3) the transfer of the
gene will take a long time as in the case of perennial crops like coconut.
Therefore, Golden Rice was developed using genetic modification, using genes from
maize and a common soil microorganism that together produce beta carotene in the
rice grain. The unique advantage of genetic modification lies in its ability to incorporate
novel genes with useful traits into new rice varieties. These include genes from plants
and organisms unrelated to rice that could not be transferred using other breeding
methods. This is possible because all genetic information is stored in the DNA which is
the common building block of all living things. Genetic modification can also greatly
increase the accuracy of incorporating only those genes for the needed trait into a new
rice variety.
Research on Golden Rice continues to be motivated by its potential contributions to
solving the global problem of VAD that afflicts more than 200 million people, especially
women and children. As a responsible research institution, IRRI is committed to offer
high quality options for farmers and consumers, none of whom should be left behind.

Our work
Participating organizations

Golden Rice is unique because it contains beta carotene, which gives it a golden color.
Many fruits and vegetables that are commonly eaten, such as squash, papaya and
carrots, also get their color from beta carotene.
The body converts beta carotene in Golden Rice to vitamin A as it is needed. According
to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2009, daily
consumption of a very modest amount of Golden Rice about a cup (or around 150 g
uncooked weight) could supply 50% of the Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamin
A for an adult.
Golden Rice was developed using genetic modification techniques, with genes from
maize and a common soil microorganism that together produce beta carotene in the
rice grain. Surveys of rice varieties around the world failed to identify any varieties that
contain significant amounts of beta carotene, so conventional breeding programs could
not be used to develop Golden Rice.
Golden Rice was invented by Professor Ingo Potrykus, then of the Institute for Plant
Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and Professor Peter Beyer of the
University of Freiburg, Germany. By 1999, Professor Potrykus and Dr. Beyer produced a
prototype Golden Rice and published their landmark research in Science.
The inventors desire to donate Golden Rice as a gift to resource-poor farmers in
developing countries led to a public-private partnership with Syngenta to help further
develop Golden Rice.
Scientists at Syngenta then carried out additional laboratory, greenhouse, and field
research to help raise the beta carotene levels in Golden Rice. In 2005, they developed

a new version of Golden Rice that produces substantially more beta carotene than the
1999 prototype - as published in Nature Biotechnology.
Syngenta arranged royalty-free access to the patents and intellectual property, held by
several biotechnology companies, for a number of key technologies used in Golden
Rice. This allows IRRI and others to develop Golden Rice varieties on a non-profit basis.
The inventors, with the help of Adrian Dubock, also established the Golden Rice
Humanitarian Board and the Golden Rice Network of public sector institutions through
which they continue to actively work to enable the development and introduction of
local Golden Rice varieties that would be well-suited to the different target countries.
IRRI is the coordinating institution for the Golden Rice Network and has been working to
develop Golden Rice with national partners since 2006.

In which countries will Golden Rice be

available?
Golden Rice is being developed as a potential way to help address vitamin A
deficiency in areas where rice is the staple food crop. This includes many parts of Asia,
which accounts for 90 percent of the worlds production and consumption of rice. In
addition to the IRRI-led Golden Rice project in Bangladesh and the Philippines, work on
Golden Rice is underway at research institutes in India, Indonesia, and other countries.
More information about their work and current activities of the inventors and the Golden
Rice Humanitarian Board, can be found on www.goldenrice.org.
Although rice is eaten in many parts of Africa and South America, there is no active
work to develop Golden Rice in those places because other staple crops such as maize
and sweet potato are much more widely grown and eaten. Work to develop high betacarotene varieties of those crops to combat vitamin A deficiency is being led
by HarvestPlus.

Is Golden Rice proven to reduce

vitamin A deficiency and its health
consequences like blindness?
Human nutrition research indicates that the beta carotene in Golden Rice is readily
converted to vitamin A in the body, providing encouraging evidence that eating Golden
Rice could help reduce vitamin A deficiency. Studies reviewed and published in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that Golden Rice is an effective source of
vitamin A for adults and children.
Further research is planned to determine whether daily consumption of Golden Rice
does improve the vitamin A status of people who are vitamin A deficient and could
therefore reduce related health conditions such as night blindness. If Golden Rice is
proven to be safe and approved for food use by national regulators in the
Philippines, Helen Keller International and university partners will independently conduct
a controlled community study to ascertain if eating Golden Rice every day can improve
the vitamin A status of humans.
For more information, see February 2013 article, Clarifying recent news about Golden
Rice and Why are human nutrition studies on Golden Rice necessary? What have they
shown?

Why do we need Golden Rice that is

genetically modified? Couldn't we use
traditional breeding methods instead?
inShare
Surveys of rice varieties around the world failed to identify any variety that contain
significant amounts of beta carotene, so conventional breeding programs could not be
used to develop Golden Rice.

Therefore, Golden Rice was developed using genetic modification, using genes from
maize and a common soil microorganism that together produce beta carotene in the
rice grain.
The unique advantage of genetic modification lies in its ability to incorporate novel
genes with useful traits into new rice varieties. These include genes from plants and
organisms unrelated to rice that could not be transferred using other breeding methods.
This is possible because all genetic information is stored in the DNA which is the
common building block of all living things.
Genetic modification can also greatly increase the accuracy of incorporating only those
genes for the needed trait into a new rice variety.
See more information about IRRIs position on genetic modification.

Why focus on rice to address vitamin A

deficiency?
inShare
Animal food products such as eggs, liver, cheese, and whole milk can all provide
humans with vitamin A. Also, foods such as mangoes, carrots, squash, and dark green
leafy vegetables are a source of vitamin A for humans as they contain beta carotene,
which is converted by the human body to vitamin A as needed. Having a diverse diet
that contains food rich in vitamin A and beta carotene is the best way for people to get
adequate vitamin A.
Some people, however, cannot afford to buy meat and other animal-based food
products very often and they may not have adequate access to fruits and vegetables
that contain beta carotene. So, a variety of options are needed to help people get
enough vitamin A.
Rice is eaten and grown in more than a hundred countries, including the Philippines and
Bangladesh, and it is the staple food for around 3 billion people. Rice provides 5080
percent of total caloric intake for many people in these countries, who are among those
most affected by vitamin A deficiency.
Golden Rice a rice that contains beta carotene offers a potential new way to help
overcome vitamin A deficiency if it is shown to be safe and improves vitamin A status.
Asian farmers could grow Golden Rice in the same ways they grow rice today while

consumers could incorporate it into their regular meals to obtain the required amount of
vitamin A.
Golden Rice is intended to be used with other approaches to tackle vitamin A deficiency,
including SUPPLEMENTATION , dietary diversification, promotion of optimal
breastfeeding, and nutrition education. It has the potential to become an effective,
sustainable, and low-cost food to help overcome vitamin A deficiency among the people
who depend mostly on rice for nourishment.

Golden Rice to receive 2015 humanitarian award from U.S. government

The Golden Rice Project has won the prestigious 2015 Patents for Humanity award on nutrition.
Through this award, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recognizes the
vision of Ingo Potrykus, Peter Beyer, and Adrian Dubockfor creating the enabling conditions for
smallholder farmers to benefit from Golden Rice. Potrykus and Beyer invented Golden Rice as a
potential complement to the nutrition toolkit in the fight against vitamin A deficiency that
afflicts about 190 million people globally.
Royalty-free access to key technologies used in Golden Rice has enabled IRRI and public
institutions to continue research and development of Golden Rice on a not-for-profit basis.
Through this royalty-free arrangement and by breeding Golden Rice into already popular
inbred varieties, resource-poor farmers can afford and reuse the seeds when they
become available.
The USPTO confers the Patents for Humanity award to patent owners working to bring lifesaving technologies to the underserved people of the world. Innovations in medicine,
sanitation, household energy, living standards, and nutrition aimed at improving global health
and living standards for the less fortunate are eligible for the award. The USPTO will confer the
award during a livestreamed ceremony from the White House at 10 am EST on April 20.
Learn more about IRRI (www.irri.org) or follow us on the social media and networks (all links down
the right column).

THE PARTNERSHIPS OFFICE

Partnerships manages IRRI's relations with the countries and the MOUs involved and
advises IRRI management and staff on developments in national programs and policies
in countries where IRRI maintains or wishes to establish research collaboration. It also
provides support to the DG and DDGR in country visits and events and is the focal point
for the Council for Partnerships on Rice Research in Asia (CORRA) and all programrelated research and extension activities in the Philippines.
In addition, Partnerships oversees all IRRI activities that have to do with community and
host country relations and employee relations.

Main mission of the Partnerships Office

Establish, strengthen and maintain relationships with external institutions to generate
support and funding for IRRIs research agenda:

Partnership Development and Management

1.

Develop and implement coherent and relevant regional and country strategies
for rice R&D as basis for IRRIs partnership activities;

2.

Lead and support NARES partners in the planning and conducting relevant and
timely work plan meetings, rice research dialogues and other fora for assessing,
setting and matching their rice R&D priorities with IRRIs interests and programs
including project proposal development that will emanate from these events;

3.

Serve as focal point and main source of important and strategic information,
documents, and data bases needed to pro-actively manage and facilitate IRRIs
partnership activities with various NARES and other important stakeholders. Work
with concerned units in developing framework and Institutional agreements such as
Host Country Agreements (HCA), MOUs/MOAs, NARES Directory, Facts about
Collaboration, Country protocols, Work plans, and specific Country strategies;

4.

Explore opportunities to expand regional and local collaborative networks and

resource mobilization to support in-country rice R&D programs including required
local and regional capacity building initiatives through country visits, monitoring and
evaluation; and

5.

Serve as CORRA Secretariat.

Host Country Relations Management

1.

Serve as main focal point for IRRIs collaborative programs with the Philippine
Institutions including coordination of all technical and programmatic assistance,
community relations and other partnership activities with all concerned NARES
stakeholders (LGUs, NGOs, SUCs, CSOs, Private sectors, etc); and

2.

Develop and maintain cordial working relationships with Philippine institutions

including government bureaucracy (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary), Philippinebased donor communities (embassies, donor agencies, etc), civil societies and
private sectors.