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Biotech / Medical : Monsanto Co. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (2368)	8/6/1999 3:11:00 AM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2539

U.S. Botanists Put Genes In Rice To Boost Nutrition Updated 12:39 AM ET August 4, 1999 ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - By inserting genes from the daffodil and other plants into rice, scientists said Tuesday they boosted the staple's nutritional value with the aim of preventing millions of cases of anemia and blindness. Swiss scientists who developed the genetically modified rice in the laboratory said it increases the levels of iron and Vitamin A and counteracts an acid found in rice that inhibits the body's ability to absorb iron. The new rice prototype is being tested and a variety could be freely available within two to four years to farmers, especially in poorer countries where rice is sometimes the only staple food, researcher Ingo Potrykus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology said. He said the rice was genetically modified solely to boost its nutritional value, unlike other crops which have been bioengineered to ward off plant disease. Bioengineered crops have sparked health and environmental concerns and been vilified in Britain as "Frankenstein foods." "There is no environmental argument in this case, because we have made an improvement in the nutritional character which does not give the plant any advantage in the environment," Potrykus said in a telephone interview. With rice the dietary staple for an estimated 2.4 billion people, iron deficiencies afflict millions with mental and physical developmental problems, and shortages of Vitamin A lead to millions of cases of childhood blindness, he said. Populations at risk are unable to supplement their diets with iron- and vitamin-rich vegetables, fruits and meat. A major problem with rice is that it contains phytic acid, which inhibits the digestive system's ability to absorb iron. The scientists obtained a gene from a French bean that boosts rice's iron content and another gene that produces an enzyme that counteracts the phytic acid. "The beauty of this gene and the protein from the gene is that it is stable even after cooking," Potrykus said. They also transferred two genes from the daffodil that produce beta-carotene -- a good source of Vitamin A -- that also creates the flower's yellow color. Beta-carotene content was further enriched with the help of a gene from a bacterium. "Our breakthrough was to engineer an entire pathway to Vitamin A. That has never been done before," said Peter Beyer, a cell biologist at the University of Freiburg in Germany who worked with Potrykus.