Vitamin A Boosted Corn Could Help 40m Kids

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Health-condition-categories/Eye-health/Vitamin-A-boosted-corn-could-help-40m-kids

This is a picture of GMO corn, which looks the same as any other corn, but is different.

http://www.mtdusa.com/imagelib/HerbertJEvans/gmo%20corn.jpg


(Staff reporter). "Vitamin A boosted corn could help 40m kids." Nutra-Ingredients USA. Decision News Media, 03 May 2010. Web. 17 May 2010. .

• Genetically boosted corn could help prevent xerophthalmia, an eye disease that causes blindness.
• Xerophthalmia typically affects 40 million kids worldwide, another 250 million suffer from other Vitamin A deficiencies.
• By isolating two certain genes, scientists has said they can triple the carotenoid levels in corn, and they can reach even farther with other products.
• Association mapping is a technique that employs statistical analysis and DNA sequencing in order to find the chromosomes responsible for carotenoid levels.
• Example: African corn has only 0.1mcg of beta-carotene per gram of corn, researchers could reach 15mcg or more.

Reflection
40 million kids is a lot of people to save from xerophthalmia, along with another 250 people who suffer from other problems. This is definitely a major topic that scientists are working on, as it has the chance to help the lives of almost 300 million people. GMO's have their downsides of course, but I think that this modified corn could really work out as a benefit to the communities that suffer from Vitamin A reduction and loss. GMO's have developed over the past few years, and this new discovery will only add to the accomplishments made by the scientists. This new corn has revealed more to me on the topic of GMO's. So far I have learned that, for the most part, GMO's hardly benefit anyone. But now, there is a new perspective that I can learn from. This perspective has appeared as a window to the other side of the arguement over GMO foods.