| According to the IRRI (International Rice Research Institute), a new rice variety, being called the golden rice could help curb vitamin A deficiency, and thus blindness in children. The research institute is currently encouraging field trials of this variety, and is backed by the Gates Foundation and others. Currently, as many as 250 million young children in the world are deficient in vitamin A, of which 500,000 go blind every year. Furthermore, half die less than a year after losing their eyesight. Read more here. |