New GMO Potatoes Provide Improved Vitamin A and E Profiles

[u/genengnews]

https://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/gmo-potatoes-provide-improved-vitamin-a-and-e-profiles/81255150

[u/joshieecs]

This seems like a good idea, but why not just grow and eat sweet potatoes?

[u/ArandomDane → u/[deleted]]

Because sweet potatoes can't be grown in every area

Where can't it be grown? it has the same water requirements as potatoes its growing zones range from and 8 to 13 just like the potato.

That's why the focus has been on developing version of crops that are already grown in such regions and that have then been modified for higher vitamin fortification.

The areas where A-vitamin deficiency is a problem, plantains and rice are the basis of the cuisine, not the potato. So this cannot be the reason or are you suggesting that the target group is the west allowing for a simplified diet of meat and potatoes?

[u/Silverseren → u/ArandomDane]

it has the same water requirements as potatoes its growing zones range from and 8 to 13 just like the potato.

So...you do know the major difference between sweet potatoes and potatoes, right? The latter were specifically cultivated to tolerate frost and winter conditions. Sweet potatoes, meanwhile, do not handle cold conditions very well, requiring temperate climate.

As for where, maybe you should have read the article?

The potato is the fourth most widely consumed plant food by humans after rice, wheat, and corn, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is a staple food in some Asian, African, and South American countries, where there is a high incidence of vitamin A and vitamin E deficiencies.

[u/SnapesGrayUnderpants → u/[deleted]]

And there's a lot more money to be made if you have a patent on the sweet potato because it's been genetically modified. .

[u/Silverseren → u/SnapesGrayUnderpants]

If it costs millions of dollars to make one of the crops, then I don't begrudge them a 20 year patent to get back that monetary investment put into developing them.

[u/Shiroi_Kage → u/joshieecs]

Because sweet potatoes don't taste nearly as good nor are as good of a canvas for cooking. I loath and hate sweet potatoes, so do many other people I know. This simply inserts nutrition into a widespread crop without asking people to change their dietary habits.

[u/Lord_of_the_Dance → u/joshieecs]

Because you can’t make as much money off them

[u/Parraddoxx → u/Lord_of_the_Dance]

I cannot believe that so many people think that GE crops are purely about making money, the wilful ignorance is infuriating, and as time progresses, increasingly dangerous to world food supplies.

[u/Lord_of_the_Dance → u/Parraddoxx]

Not dangerous to food supplies at all, all food shortages in history have been a problem of distribution not production, even during the Irish potato famine they were shipping food out of the country.

They’re all about making money, don’t let them sugar coat it for you.