IN THE first series of this article entitled “The Golden Rice Project in the Philippines,” we noted that Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) is mainly a third-world problem. VAD is more common in developing countries, where it is often very severe and can cause loss of vision, other health problems, and even death.
Those opposing the Golden Rice Project have their followers mostly based in the third world. They propose that promoting a “diversity of diets” can work wonders for the poor. However, they also claim that the traditional sources of vitamin A have declined or disappeared in their countries, if not, unavailable due to high cost and limitations of production.
In India and elsewhere in Asia, lakes, and wetlands which used to be sources of fish, shrimp, frogs and aquatic weeds rich in Vitamin A have either dried up or were long poisoned by industrial and residential wastes. In the Philippines, "diversity of diet" could hardly work for the middle class, what more to the poor and the very poor who cannot afford to buy vegetables or fruits regularly.
Still, an oppositionist advocates “effective education and empowering” the “vulnerable sectors of the population as a more sensible approach to addressing VAD than adding yet another source of vitamin A which most likely will not be equitably distributed anyway.”
The meaning of the rhetoric particularly “effective education and empowerment” has yet to be demonstrated in practice especially in areas abundant with varieties of fruits, vegetables, fishes, and livestock but continue to suffer from persistent VAD.
Vitamin A is important for healthy eyes, healthy skin and for fighting infections.
Foods that contain vitamin A include liver, milk, eggs and fish-liver oils. The other sources are green, orange, and yellow vegetables and fruits which are good sources of a substance called beta-carotene that can be converted into vitamin A by the human body.
A regular intake of these foods is recommended to supply the daily requirements of a person of Vitamin A. Mild forms of vitamin A deficiency can usually be treated without any long-term problems.
Nationwide, results of a food and nutrition survey among pre-school children revealed VAD increased from 15.2 percent in 2008 to 20.4 percent in 2013. These figures translate to about 2.1 million Filipino children who are at very high risk of becoming blind or even dying due to preventable infections. VAD increases vulnerability to illnesses including measles, respiratory infections, and diarrhea, which are the leading causes of death among children in developing countries.
Scientists involved in the development of golden rice (GR) say that complete balanced diets are the best solution to VAD. But in areas where balance diets are also a problem, GR “provides an excellent complement to fruits, vegetables, and animal products in the diet, and to fortified foods and vitamin supplements.”
In third world countries, it is the poor families who hardly eat three square meals a day and are dependent on cheap staples that need VAD fortified rice. Among poor farmers, the problem is especially felt during occurrences of drought or when not in season, fruits and vegetables are hardly available, are expensive and beyond their means.
Vitamin A fortification and supplementation programs are part of the solution but nothing beats GR being made available to poor farmers to grow on their farms and harvest as a regular part of their diet.
A product of the public sector “with the realistic hope of saving the lives and sight of millions of children in the developing world, GR is like any natural rice, according to rice scientists at Philrice.
Through its development, all possible risks in its propagation are being resolved in the laboratory before it is released to the farmers for them to grow on their farms.
Since the time GR research was started in the Philippines, rice scientists at Philrice and IRRI never stopped working to make it available to local farmers and ultimately consumers, according to Dr. Roel Suralta, GR Project team leader at Philrice. From the beginning, it was their commitment and ardent desire to ascertain if GR can really be an effective solution and remedy to the VAD problem.
This is the main reason why they have been sensitive to the public and their peers’ opinions of their activities, according to Dr. Suralta. “We are committed to doing the science right and making sure we comply with regulations along the way,” he wrote in response to an email I sent to him.
Their good work is being appreciated and rewarded in spite of the challenges. After militant activist destroyed their experiment in Pili, Camarines Sur in 2013, the Golden Rice Project got more support from Filipino farmers and local government units, Dr. Suralta said.
“Over the years and at each stage of the project, we kept key stakeholders informed of our GR research activities. In the conduct of our multi-location field trials, we are supported by local government unit officials and community leaders who are well informed of the ultimate goal of our research – to develop GR varieties with good levels of beta-carotene.
Dr. Suralta said that as partners, the farmers and LGUs are a great help in ensuring GR could be evaluated as a potential way to reduce vitamin A deficiency. We are working together to develop this rice in a manner that complies with national policies at every step of the way, he explained.
“We are pleased that for each of our five field research sites, the barangay (village), municipal (city) and provincial governments adopted resolutions in favor of our Golden Rice research activities, especially the conduct of the field trials. These local leaders have remained actively interested in and are supportive of our work ever since, participating along with members of our locally-based Institutional Biosafety Committees and the media in regular seminars about biotechnology, healthier rice, and Golden Rice,” Dr. Suralta said. – To be continued.