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Potential impact and cost-effectiveness of Golden Rice

Nature Biotechnology volume 24, pages 1200–1201 (2006)Cite this article

To the editor

A News & Views article by Michael Grusak in last year's April issue (Nat. Biotechnol. 23, 429–430, 2005) highlighted the unresolved debate concerning the efficacy of Golden Rice in addressing the problem of vitamin A deficiency (VAD). He pointed out that an assessment of the potential impact of Golden Rice on this type of malnutrition requires the consideration of multiple variables, including the target individuals' life stages, the average amount of rice consumed daily by these individuals and the percentage of β-carotene that would be absorbed from rice. He further explains how early critics of the original Golden Rice technology had used simple estimates of these variables to suggest that unrealistic amounts of the transgenic rice would need to be consumed to satisfy the recommended dietary intakes of vitamin A equivalents (exclusively) through rice consumption. By replacing the daffodil phytoene synthase gene with the equivalent gene from maize, researchers have managed to increase the amount of β-carotene that accumulates in rice considerably1. However, a sound impact analysis of this new Golden Rice 2 variety, based on a solid methodological framework, is still outstanding.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to G. Barry, A. Dubock, J. Mayer, S.R. Rao, A.K. Singh and U. Kapil for providing cost figures and expert inputs for essential assumptions. The financial support of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Golden Rice Humanitarian Board is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Economics & Social Sciences (490b), University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, 70593, Germany

    Alexander J Stein & Matin Qaim

  2. Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science & Research, B-16 Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi, 110 016, India

    H.P.S. Sachdev

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  1. Alexander J Stein
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  2. H.P.S. Sachdev
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  3. Matin Qaim
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Stein, A., Sachdev, H. & Qaim, M. Potential impact and cost-effectiveness of Golden Rice. Nat Biotechnol 24, 1200–1201 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1006-1200b

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