The reference to this golden rice is also included in the 12th class Botany course. In fact, questions have been asked about this golden rice even in exams like TNPSC, UPSC. So take a closer look at this post.
So what is Golden Rice? Let's look at that first.
Golden rice is not the same as gold-coated rice. Gold-colored rice and the importance of gold in this rice are as important as it can be seen later. Otherwise, it can be said that gold has nothing to do with this.
The golden bowl is in the left bowl of the picture and the ordinary rice is in the right bowl.
Golden Rice is a genetically modified crop. That is, gold rice is a type of rice that has undergone a few changes in the DNA found in the cells of the normally cultivated rice plant and has been hybridized with the properties of just a few plants. It is worth mentioning that this genetic modification study has been done for a long time in many crops such as potatoes, tomatoes, and peas.
Beta carotene is an important source of vitamin A. Beta carotene can be found in plants. It is an organic compound found mainly in large amounts of dark orange fruits. It belongs to a type of organic compound. Organic compounds are minerals found in living things. The mineral compound can be found in inanimate objects.
That is why they have made golden rice which contains this organic compound beta carotene which is full of vitamin A.
In 1990 by a British scientist, Peter Bramley, laid the foundation for this golden rice. That is, he succeeded in genetically modifying this beta carotene in tomatoes. This was followed in 1992 by Peter Brumley, a professor at the University of Puravk, who continued his research on this golden rice with Ingo Potrykus, a plant science firm affiliate of the Swiss Institute of Technology. They published a research paper on this golden rice 8 years later in 2000 in the journal Science. Only then did the news about the golden rice begin to heat up.
Subsequently, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines (IRRI) and the Rockefeller Foundation in the USA took up the study and produced gold rice and first published it in 2000.
This rice was found to be slightly golden with a yellowish tinge. Further researchers found that the amount of beta carotene in this golden rice was lower than expected.
Then in 2005 they made a few more genetic modifications and released the 2nd part of this golden rice. The color of this new type of gold rice was more than the previous gold rice. It is noteworthy that they used the gene molecule in corn for this color. And as researchers expected, the impact of beta carotene, a mineral-rich in vitamin A, was felt in addition to this rice. This means that this part 2 gold rice has 23 times more beta carotene than the previous gold rice.
We have been looking at what golden-rice is so far. well, let's see what is the purpose of making gold rice.
According to a 2005 study, nearly 400 million people worldwide suffer from vitamin A deficiency. The worst affected are children under the age of 5, which is estimated to kill approximately 670,000 children a year, and more than 5 million people with irreversible vision loss. Not only this, pregnant women and the elderly also suffer from vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency not only causes eye loss but also skin diseases such as measles and mumps. It is estimated that the impact of this vitamin A deficiency is greatest in 125 countries around the world. It is noteworthy that more than half of the world's population consumes rice as a staple food.
With all this in mind, this genetically modified gold rice is the type of rice that was brought in to treat this vitamin A deficiency without taking medicine or pills.
This golden rice has been approved by the Ministry of Health in 2018 in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States after being subjected to numerous tests.
As from permission from President of India Pranab Mukherjee in India in 2016, IARI (Indian Agricultural Research Institute) first cultivated in Bihar. However, the project was not as successful as expected. Not only that, the impact of vitamin A deficiency in India is slightly less compared to other countries. It is also noteworthy that whites are the most affected by this vitamin A deficiency.
Whatever golden rice was brought in to cure vitamin A deficiency without medication, This gold rice is the equivalent of taking medicine because it is genetically modified. Our ancestors lived a healthy life by cooking the naturally produced rice in a husking manner. And if the government does not give importance to this genetically modified product called gold rice or silver rice and distributes good quality rice in Ration shops, we will not get any disease for sure.
