Grist's food writer Nathanael Johnson weighs in on the carotene-fortified GM banana scheduled to undergo a feeding trial at the Iowa State University in the US. The project is a collaboration between Australian and Ugandan scientists. Their aim is to introduce to Ugandan subsistence banana farmers a genetically modified cooking banana with higher levels of beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, than the cultivars that are an important part of their diet. Johnson asked experts questions ranging from Aren’t there simpler ways to address vitamin A deficiency? to Why are Americans so interested?.
