A \u2018vitamin enhanced super-banana\u2019 developed by scientists is to be tested on humans. The trials are to take place in the US over a six-week period. Researchers aim to start growing the fruit in Uganda by 2020.<\/p>\n
The bananas are \u2018super\u2019 because they have been genetically engineered to have increased levels of vitamin A\u2013 a deficiency of which can be fatal. Hundreds of thousands die annually worldwide from vitamin A deficiencies, while many others go blind, the project\u2019s leader told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe consequences of vitamin A deficiency are dire with 650,000-700,000 children worldwide dying\u2026each year and at least another 300,000 going blind,\u201d Professor James Dale stated. \u201cGood 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,\u201d Dale said.<\/p>\n
The project was created by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. \u201cWe know our science will work,\u201d Dale said. \u201cWe made all the constructs, the genes that went into bananas, and put them into bananas here at QUT.\u201d Dale added that the genetically modified banana flesh is more orange than a usual banana, but otherwise looks the same.<\/p>\n
The highland or East African cooking banana is a dietary staple in East Africa. However, it has low levels of micronutrients, particularly vitamin A and iron. If the project is given the go-ahead for Uganda after the US trials, GMO crops could also be given the green light for Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn West Africa farmers grow plantain bananas and the same technology could easily be transferred to that variety as well,\u201d Dale stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A \u2018vitamin enhanced super-banana\u2019 developed by scientists is to be tested on humans. The trials are to take place in the US over a six-week period. Researchers aim to start growing the fruit in Uganda by 2020. The bananas are \u2018super\u2019 because they have been genetically engineered to have increased levels of vitamin A\u2013 a… <\/p>\n