Children Will Continue To Die

Three billion people across the world depend on rice as their food staple. Of that number ten percent are at risk for vitamin A deficiency. In poverty-stricken countries of the world the elemental foods that provide vitamin A are not readily accessible as they are in wealthy countries where people are able to consume a wide variety of foods, among them foods high in vitamin A.

Liver, for example, is a good source of vitamin A. Other top sources of vitamin A are red pepper (paprika), sweet potato, carrots, dark leafy greens, butternut squash, dried herbs, red and green leaf lettuce, dried apricots, and cantaloupe. These food items would be viewed as unattainable nutritional luxuries to people who live on a restricted diet consisting primarily of rice.

Night blindness is one of the earliest symptoms of vitamin A deficiency, one which if not corrected eventually leads to blindness when the outer layers of the eyes become dry, thickened and cloudy. Vitamin A deficiency causes dry and rough skin; and with that deficiency people become more susceptible to infectious diseases because the lining of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts become damaged with vitamin A deficiency.

 Remediation of vitamin A deficiency is readily available in the developed world, it remains a problem of huge proportions in the undeveloped world. The World Health Organization estimates that between 250,000 to 500,000 children go blind annually throughout the world as a result of vitamin A deficiency. According to the WHO, vitamin A deficiency constitutes a public health problem in over half the countries of the world.

Africa and South-East Asia are hit particularly hard, among young children and pregnant women, disadvantaged in countries of low income. Supplementing with vitamin A in high-risk areas of the world can significantly reduce mortality rates. When supplementation does not or cannot take place a needlessly high risk of disease and death occurs.


It is a huge problem. One that has a relatively easy solution right at hand. But the solution is fought tooth and nail by environmental groups such as Greenpeace, who claim that the solution is one inimical to the environment. Genetically modified Golden Rice is the solution; a rice that has been infused with vitamin A specifically to solve deficiency problems.

Recent studies confirm that 2 ounces of golden rice is capable of providing 60% of daily vitamin A to those consuming it. Golden rice provides more vitamin A than spinach is capable of doing. But environmental activists campaign against genetically modified crops, pronouncing them to be bad for health and the environment.

According to the American Association For The Advancement of Science:
"The science is quite clear: Crop improvement by the modern molecular techniques of bio-technology is safe."

And that conclusion has been emphasized as well by the European Union commission on the basis of 25 years of research: "There is, as of today, no scientific evidence associating GMOs with higher risks for the environment or for food and feed safety than conventional plants and organisms."

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has found as well genetically engineered (GE) crops to be environmentally benign: "Generally, GE crops have had fewer adverse effects on the environment than non-GE crops produced conventionally."

Yet activist groups like Greenpeace go well out of their way to incite concerns among consumers, to convince them of the "frankenfood" effect threatening human health and nature. These activities see events such as those occurring in the Philippines where a mob of 400 protesters destroyed a field trial of genetically modified Golden Rice.

Greenpeace is proud of their activities: "In the Philippines, we supported and highlighted the community rejection of golden rice in the Mindanao area. We will continue our campaign to halt release of GE rice to the environment, and to support public resistance to GE foods."

That influential environmental activist group, among others, has been hugely instrumental in disseminating false and misleading information on the threats posed by genetically modified crops. Where, in fact, such crops have the potential to rescue humanity from starvation and from dire health risks associated with poverty-dictated limited diets.

It is estimated that in the last decade, around eight million children have died from vitamin A deficiency. As long as the deniers of the prospective solutions to the problem convey their slanderous information about the usefulness of scientifically designed food products, portraying them as threats rather than solutions to human health deficiencies, children will continue to die.