Food insecurity: Prevalence, causes, and the potential of transgenic 'Golden Rice'

This paper reviews a number of recent social science publications on the nature and causes of food insecurity in low and middle-income countries. The focus is on one specific element of food insecurity, vitamin A deficiency, which is widespread in developing countries and causes blindness and early death among millions of children. A new approach in the fight against vitamin A deficiency is 'Golden Rice'. The paper explores the pros and cons of this recently developed transgenic rice variety, and tries to answer the question whether in this particular case, genetic modification technology provides a solution to food insecurity. It is concluded that Golden Rice is one of the options available, but not necessarily the most effective one.

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