A new genetically modified (GM) corn that produces beta carotene and precursors of vitamin C and folic acid is the first crop to be engineered to make more than one vitamin. Says lead researcher Paul Christou: "The major message of the paper is that it’s possible to engineer crops with multiple nutrients.... If you look at other nutritionally enhanced GM crops, up until now people have only been able to increase levels of one nutrient or vitamin” [Wired]. But anti-GM campaigners have not been won over by the scientific feat, even though the research behind it was not funded by agricultural corporations. The researchers
inserted five genes from other organisms—including rice and Escherichia coli—into a popular South African white corn variety called M37W that Christou said is "completely devoid of vitamins"
[Los Angeles Times]. They then bombarded the corn embryos with metal particles coated with chunks of DNA that, if ...
