InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA -- The Department of Agriculture (DA) is not backing down on its plan to promote the commercialization of biotech crops, particularly golden rice and Bt eggplant. Dr. Candida Adalla, director of DA’s Biotechnology Program Implementing Unit (BPIU), said biotech crops offer the best options for farmers to increase their yields and earn more money. Adalla said far from being a health risk, Golden Rice will battle malnutrition problem in the country, particularly vitamin A deficiency, and save young children and nursing mothers from the serious health problem. She stressed that a number of institutions collaborated to produce Golden Rice, with the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice), the DA-BPIU, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Helen Keller International, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) collaborating. She revealed that the Golden Rice breeding line has already been identified and this line can produce higher levels of beta carotene per gram of rice. Adalla said 150 grams of uncooked Golden Rice can provide 50 percent of the required daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin A for an adult. “Golden Rice was developed using genetic modification techniques with genes from corn and a common soil microorganism that together produce the beta carotene in the rice grain,” she said.
Adalla said Golden Rice is crucial to addressing the problem of vitamin deficiency, which affects 15 percent of Filipino children aged between six months and 5 years.
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