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In 2000, ETH plant researcher Ingo Potrykus made a scientific breakthrough: He genetically modified rice to counteract vitamin A deficiency. This fall saw the first harvest in the Philippines. However, it is not a success story.
It is harvested, the first Golden Rice. It tastes like any other rice, but it’s genetically modified to fight vitamin A deficiency. Around the world, 500,000 children go blind, and many of them die as a result. Ingo Potrykus has been fighting for this golden rice for 30 years. But the hurdles are high – scientifically, but also politically.
Legend:
The first harvest of golden rice in the Philippines.
SRF / Ingo Potrykus
The jar with yellow rice grains is on the table. Ingo Potrykus could be proud: At the age of 89, the professor emeritus for plant research at the ETH saw 70 tons of his golden rice being harvested in the Philippines in autumn. This rice is now distributed to preschool children, pregnant or breastfeeding mothers. But the arduous path has consumed him.
The fight against hunger
“Vitamin A deficiency is hidden hunger,” says Ingo Potrykus, “you only feel it when it’s too late.” Potrycus knows what hunger is. Born in Germany in 1933, he was only able to survive for years on the run by looking for something to eat in the fields. “We stole to survive.” His fight against hunger is based on this experience. “I’m not a scientist. I want to help practically.”
The unthinkable breakthrough
In 1992, Potrykus, together with the scientist Peter Beyer, began experiments to enrich rice with beta-carotene. In 1999 he discovered the first yellow grains under the microscope. “We knew then that we had achieved something that no one had thought possible.” In a bet among ten scientists, nine bet against. “It was my naivety that pulled this project through for eight years.”
Legend:
89-year-old Ingo Potrykus, professor emeritus for plant research at the ETH, is fighting hunger with his Golden Rice.
SRF / Ingo Potrykus
The goal is clear: This rice is to be given away to poor farmers. Potrykus never wanted to make a profit. A collaboration with Syngenta fails after a few years because the rice development promises too little income. “We had no idea what it meant to want to give something away, what it meant to bring a scientific breakthrough to the poor.”
Resistance to genetically modified organisms
Environmental organizations such as Greenpeace offer the greatest resistance. For fear that genetically modified plants could harm the environment and people. «The EU has funded 565 projects to study this very question. It has been shown in no uncertain terms that transgenic crops are at least as safe as normal crops. Basically, they are safer because they have been better studied,” says the researcher. The protests against genetic engineering are delaying his project.
Legend:
A scientist shows the difference between golden rice (right) and regular rice at the International Rice Research Institute, south of Manila. (14 Aug 2013)
REUTERS/Erik De Castro
Potrykus founded a foundation, the biggest supporter is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It takes around 20 years to prepare all the necessary documents for a permit for the cultivation and consumption of golden rice. The Philippine security authorities will give the green light in 2021. Potrykus is now hoping that other countries will follow suit. Planting golden rice in India would be his greatest wish. “If I had known then what to expect, I probably would have kept my hands off it,” sums up Ingo Potrykus. But he’s not quite sure.