Golden GM Rice To Be A Reality Soon: IRRI

According to the director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Genetically modified (GMO) Golden Rice enriched with Vitamin A may be available to farmers as early as 2011, possibly helping to save millions of children threatened with blindness or premature death due to Vitamin A deficiency.

Golden Rice -- which includes three new genes, including two from daffodil -- is yellowish and contains beta-carotene, a substance that human bodies convert to Vitamin A. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), was conducting its first field trials in the Philippines this year.

There is as yet no GMO rice grown commercially. Widely produced transgenic products, such as GMO soy, corn or cotton, are mostly pest- or herbicide-resistant. They are beneficial to farmers, but not necessarily to consumers.