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Obtain regulatory approval to market the rice.

Produce the rice in sufficient quantities for distribution and marketing.

Consumer Research

Conduct studies to determine the degree of consumer acceptance of the rice.

Conduct dietary studies to evaluate patterns of consumption of the rice among vitamin A–deficient individuals and population groups.

Clinical Research

Conduct biochemical studies to determine how much beta-carotene is absorbed from the rice, and whether consuming the rice increases levels of vitamin A in the body.

Conduct clinical studies to determine whether consuming the rice is associated with a reduction in symptoms of vitamin A deficiency and improvements in health and survival among individuals and population groups.

The degree of acceptance by consumers is also a matter of concern. Preliminary surveys suggested that some people found the yellow color unattractive; they thought someone might have urinated on the rice. Scientists can remove the undesirable color by inserting the genes for the additional enzymes in the pathway to vitamin A (which is colorless), but these steps only add to the technical difficulties. Table 12 explains why promotion of Golden Rice as a means to prevent vitamin A deficiency is premature. At best several more years of work will be needed to bring it to market.

Golden Rice: The Politics

White rice is the principal source of energy (calories) for one-third or more of the world’s population, but it is not a source of vitamin A. Only animals make vitamin A; plants make beta-carotene, its precursor. The lack of vitamin A is the single most important cause of blindness among children in developing countries and a major contributor to deaths among malnourished children and adults. Children who are even mildly deficient in vitamin A are at increased risk for early death, but health authorities can prevent an astonishing proportion of such deaths—more than half—with supplements of vitamin A (not beta-carotene). Supplements are relatively inexpensive and need to be taken once every six months or so, but because they cannot always be obtained by the people who need them most, fortification of a commonly consumed food might be another way to solve a serious world health problem.20

Since 1984, the Rockefeller Foundation has dispensed about $4 million annually to fund genetics projects to improve one characteristic or another of rice plants, and it considers Golden Rice to be the greatest achievement of this program. Moving Golden Rice beyond the research stage, however, unexpectedly encountered political problems. Ironically, one of the difficulties was a confrontation with patent rights, as a “thicket of intellectual property claims” governed use of the technology. The companies most likely to benefit from the public relations generated by Golden Rice, among them Monsanto and AstraZeneca, hold proprietary patent rights to as many as 70 of the materials or DNA segments needed for its construction. To solve the legal problems connected with using the technology, Dr. Potrykus and his colleagues contracted with AstraZeneca to market the rice in the United States and other industrial markets. In return, AstraZeneca agreed to help make the technology available to the developing world. It gave the technology to the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines where scientists are crossing Golden Rice with locally grown varieties. AstraZeneca also said it would give the Golden Rice seeds to farmers earning less than $10,000 a year (a figure that includes most farmers in developing countries) and allow farmers to save the seeds to plant in future years. Monsanto also agreed to give up its intellectual property rights for this rice.21

These concessions appear exceedingly generous, but Golden Rice is unlikely to have much commercial potential in developing countries. Its public relations value, however, is enormous. In July 2000, the cover of Time displayed a photograph of Dr. Potrykus with the headline “This rice could save a million