The following is an edited excerpt.
Despite the rapid progress made towards reducing poverty in many developing countries in recent years, high rates of malnutrition persist – and Vitamin A deficiency remains a persistent challenge. One cause for optimism is that new approaches to ‘biofortification’ are beginning to offer hope of improved strategies with the potential to save tens to hundreds of thousands of lives per year.
Public acceptability will be crucial in any roll-out of any GM crops, given the intense public concerns focused over many years on the GMO issue. In the couple of years that are left before golden rice goes on offer to consumers and growers in the Philippines, I hope there will be a much-needed boost to public understanding of the life-saving potential of biofortification in food crops.
Related on the SLP
View the original article here: Golden promise: How ‘biofortification’ could soon be saving hundreds of thousands of lives
