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posted by LaminatorX on Thursday June 19 2014, @10:46AM   Printer-friendly
from the Little-Eric-Volunteers dept.

Every year, vitamin A deficiency inflicts between 250,000 and 500,000 helpless and malnourished young people with early-life blindness and in half of those cases, it also brings death. Now the Washington Post reports that, backed by nearly $10 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, scientists are now working to genetically engineer "super" bananas that are fortified with crucial alpha- and beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A. "There is very good evidence that vitamin A deficiency leads to an impaired immune system and can even have an impact on brain development," says James Dale. "Good science can make a massive difference here by enriching staple crops such as Ugandan bananas with pro-vitamin A and providing poor and subsistence-farming populations with nutritionally rewarding food."

The Gates Foundation has a history of supporting GMO research and technology at least since 2010, when the non-profit invested in a low amount of shares in biotechnology giant Monsanto. Gates has amped up support for GMOs so that "poor countries that have the toughest time feeding their people have a process," adding that "there should be an open-mindedness, and if they can specifically prove [GMO] safety and benefits, foods should be approved, just like they are in middle-income countries." Such support has resulted in criticism and suspicion of the foundation's agenda. As for the worry that GMO seeds are increasingly consolidated in the hands of major agribusiness powers, Gates said in February 2013 after his foundation reportedly sold the approximately $23 million in Monsanto shares it owned that there are "legitimate issues, but solvable issues" with GMO technology and wider use. Gates added that one solution may be offering crops already patented but requiring no royalty dues.

 
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  • (Score: 1) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday June 19 2014, @06:00PM

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Thursday June 19 2014, @06:00PM (#57525)
    "And he's buying a stairway to Heaven ..."

    That aside I remember all the hype about "golden rice", a GMO rice variant that contains beta carotene. It is licensed to subsistence farmers for free, for now, and there is still a lot of controversy about it from all the expected groups.

    This super banana is just going to be more of same. Some members of WHO say that teaching people to grow plants naturally high in vitamin A and providing supplements will do more to really help than "super plants".
    --
    "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 19 2014, @07:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 19 2014, @07:03PM (#57563)

    buying a stairway to Heaven

    In case anyone needs to be reminded, what Gates knows is how to make profit with minimal effort via "intellectual property".
    The Gates Foundation is simply more of the same.

    If this was actually charitable work, at best his personal wealth would be remaining constant; it would NOT be increasing by billions.
    2012 - $7 billion [google.com]
    2013 - $15.8 billion [google.com]
    His "charitable foundation" is simply a tax dodge.

    Yeah, it bugs me that a legit not-for-profit like S/N has such a difficult time securing that legal status while Gates and his cronies get a free pass to make profit.

    -- gewg_

  • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday June 19 2014, @11:51PM

    by Reziac (2489) on Thursday June 19 2014, @11:51PM (#57685) Homepage

    "...there is still a lot of controversy about it from all the expected groups."

    Methinks your sig applies there as well.

    --
    And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.