Amherst, Massachusetts
May 6, 2008
More than 80 percent of the
world’s population depends on rice as a staple food, but
production is dropping in the rice paddies of Bangladesh, parts
of India and South and East Asia due to toxic levels of arsenic
in the topsoil.
Om Parkash of the University of
Massachusetts Amherst leads a research team that uses
genetic engineering to produce rice plants that block the uptake
of arsenic, which could increase production of this valuable
crop and provide safer food supplies for millions.
“By increasing the activity of certain genes, we can create
strains of rice that are highly resistant to arsenic and other
toxic metals,” says Parkash, a professor of plant, soil and
insect sciences. “Rice plants modified in this way accumulate
several-fold less arsenic in their above-ground tissues, and
produce six to seven times more biomass, making the rice safer
to eat and more productive.” This could help alleviate the
current world-wide rice shortage.
Deep tube wells installed to provide drinking water in
Bangladesh and other countries are producing water with
naturally occurring levels of arsenic that greatly exceed safe
limits in drinking water. Groundwater is then being used to
irrigate rice paddies, and this irrigation is causing a buildup
of arsenic in topsoils that is toxic to the rice plants,
reducing the amount of rice that can be produced in a given
area.
According to Parkash, arsenic builds up in all parts of the
plant, including the rice grains used for food, creating health
problems in hundreds of thousands of people, including several
forms of cancer. Arsenic is also present in the rice straw used
as animal fodder, causing arsenic to enter the food chain in
dairy products and meat, and affecting the health of animals.
“Already on the Indian subcontinent, particularly in Bangladesh
and West Bengal, there are more than 300,000 people who have
developed cancer from arsenic poisoning by drinking contaminated
water and eating contaminated food,” says Parkash. “The World
Health Organization has dubbed this one of the major
environmental disasters in human history.”
Parkash is currently working with the UMass Amherst Office of
Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property and several
interested companies to bring this technology to the
marketplace. “Basically, the companies will use our gene
constructs in new or existing rice lines, producing hybrid rice
that will go through the cultivation and seed production stage,”
says Parkash. “Then the new strains of rice will be
commercialized and brought to market.”
Parkash’s research is funded through the Massachusetts
Technology Transfer Center from the Office of the President of
the University of Massachusetts. A podcast featuring research by
Parkash can be found at
http://www.umasstechcast.org. |
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