Not so golden
The publicity early in 2001 about Golden Rice , with its genetically added Vitamin A promising to reduce child blindness, has revived interest in so-called edible vaccines . Golden Rice, which contains a gene added from the daffodil plant,has since been removed from the spotlight by its producer, Syngenta. Levels of provitamin A in a typical daily intake of 300g of rice have been found to be very low and it has become clear, says Gordon Conway of the Rockefeller Foundation, that Golden Rice could not be considered 'the solution to the vitamin A deficiency problem. Rather, it provides an excellent complement to fruits, vegetables and animal products in the diet, and to various fortified foods and vitamin supplements.' Work is still underway to share Syngenta s technology with scientists in public institutions, with support from Rockefeller. In all, scientists are working on more than 30 edible vaccines, but the problems of dosage, delivery, availability and cost are proving hard nuts to crack.
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
2001
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/46191 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/99596 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|