What is 'Golden rice'? How it can prevent child blindness?

Explanation

It is a variety of rice (Oryza sativa) produced through genetic engineering to biosynthesise `beta` -carotenes, a precursor of vitamin A. It is intended to produce a fortified food to overcome the deficiency of vitamin A, which is estimated to kill 6,70,000 children under the age of 5 each year. Golden rice differs from its parental strain by the addition of `3beta` -carotenes biosynthesis genes. In 2005, Golden rice-2 was announced, which produces upto 23 times more `beta` -carotene than the original golden rice. The research that led to golden rice was conducted with the goal of helping children suffering from vitamin A deficiency (VAD). VAD is responsible for 1-2 million deaths, 50,000 cases of irreversible blindness and millions of cases of xerophthalmia annually. Because many children in VAD-affected countries rely on rice as staple food, so genetic modification to make rice produce the vitamin A precussor `beta` -carotene was seen as a simple and less expensive alternative. Although golden rice was developed as a humanitarian tool, it has met significant opposition from environmental and anti-globalisation activities.