Against the grain

摘要

The years of frustration are audible in Adrian Dubock's voice when he talks about the development of golden rice. "It's been an uphill struggle," he says, "but I think we're winning" Golden rice was created in response to a nutritional crisis that grips some of the poorest communities in the world. According to the World Health Organization, every year between 250,000 and 500,000 children lose their eyesight because of vitamin A deficiency. Half of them will die within a year of going blind, primarily because their immune systems did not have enough vitamin A to function properly (see 'Prevalence of vitamin A deficiency').