The blind girl lurched toward me across the parking lot at Tirta Empul temple, mewling. A whitish haze coated her eyes, each looking upward in a different direction. She moved herky-jerky due to poorly formed bones. I did not speak Indonesian; she did not speak English, yet there was no doubt what she wanted. Money.
I gave her what I had in my pocket: a 5000 Rupiah note, about 42 cents. She would buy rice with the little money I gave her. The food would fill her belly, but not her body’s needs.
Her condition is common for the poorest children in Asia; it is caused by a lack of Retinol (vitamin A). Chronic Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) causes irreversible blindness and poorly formed bones. Half of the afflicted will die within one year.
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If only there were a way that the rice could help prevent vitamin A deficiency. There is: Golden Rice, a genetically modified food. You may not like the idea of genetically modified food, but you probably do not have to watch your child die due to a lack of vitamins. Neither you nor I have the right to deprive someone of food that can literally save his or her life.
Read the full, original article: Golden Rice, Golden Opportunity
