The Philippine Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Plant Industry has formally opened a 60-day public comment period for the proposed approval for commercial propagation of GR2E Golden Rice, developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PRRI). This represents the final approval required for Golden Rice to complete the Philippine biosafety regulation process after the product was approved for direct use as food and feed, or for processing (FFP) in 2019 (see AgbioNews Dec 18, 2019).

Golden Rice is a biofortified product that contains elevated levels of vitamin A and is intended to act as a method to control Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) as part of a complementary, food-based solution to existing nutritional interventions, such as diet diversification and oral supplementation.

GR2E Golden Rice is a genetically modified rice variety that contains the genetic event IR-00GR2E-5 and possess complete copies of the genes Zmpsy1, SSU-crtI and pmi. Zmpsy1 codes for phytoene synthase protein and was isolated from maize (Zea mays). The SSU-crtI produces a carotene desaturase protein isolated from the bacterium Pantoea ananatis, while pmi produces a phosphomannose isomerase enzyme that is used as a cell selection tool.