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Use Biotechnology To Alleviate Hidden Hunger, Don't Shun It

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POST WRITTEN BY
Kate Hall
This article is more than 8 years old.

In September, global leaders converged at the United Nations in New York to establish the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), picking up where the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) concluded this year. Whereas the original MDG of halving global hunger by 2015 has been met in terms of correcting the calorie deficit, inadequate access to quality calories and important nutrients – hidden hunger – still affects nearly 800 million people, many of them children. The newly established SDGs aim to end hunger in all its forms within the next 15 years.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, almost five million children under the age of five die of malnutrition-related causes every year – a staggering number. Important initiatives like today’s World Food Day shine a light on this tragedy, and public-private partnerships have rallied to develop genetically modified crops that can help alleviate the hunger and malnutrition problems that plague many developing nations.

Countries like China, India and Indonesia are dependent on rice for as much as 80 percent of their caloric intake. But rice does not naturally produce many important nutrients, like vitamin A or iron. Children who rely on rice-based diets can suffer from impaired immune systems, blindness or even death due to nutrient deficiencies.

To address the micronutrient deficiency of rice, researchers at the International Rice Research Institute have found a way to genetically engineer rice to increase the amount of beta-carotene, which is converted in the body to vitamin A. A serving of “Golden Rice” offers half of the required daily intake of pro-vitamin A for a child between the ages of 1 to 3.

Similarly, over 250 million Africans rely on cassava, also devoid of essential nutrients, as a dietary staple. The Danforth Plant Science Center, working with Nigeria’s National Root Crop Research Institute and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Institute, are developing BioCassava Plus, fortified with vitamin A and iron. Researchers have also found ways to increase the amount and stability of other nutrients in staple crops such as iron and zinc, and to improve the protein digestibility of sorghum.

Despite these breakthroughs, biotechnology is still an underutilized tool to help us expedite the delivery of more nutritious and productive crops. Why? Because of the fear and uncertainty around GMOs that is preventing researchers from offering these crops to the communities that can benefit from their use.

It’s important to understand what’s at stake: Malnutrition contributes to sickness, lost productivity and poverty, and death. Hidden hunger stunts not only the individual, but also the family and the broader community.

We need to continue highlighting the role that biotechnology can play to address some of the biggest food and environmental challenges of our time. Engaging with the public to talk about the safety of GMOs is a critical step to ensure these fortified foods are made available and help contribute to ending the plague of hidden hunger.

We have a goal; we have solutions. Now let’s work together to solve this problem.