Vitamin A Wars: The Downsides of Donor-Driven Aid

Just published on Independent Science News, Ted Greiner’s Vitamin A Wars: The Downsides of Donor-Driven Aid is a forthright update on the politics of Vitamin A deficiency and the failed Vitamin A Capsule (VAC) Program that continues to block support for holistic health, food, and farming-based prevention strategies. First described in detail in The Great Vitamin A Fiasco, written by the late Professor Michael Latham in 2010, the politics of Vitamin A deficiency and the prospects for prevention programs that support a healthful and varied diet only get worse. This is explained in Golden Lies: The Seed Industry’s Questionable Golden Rice Project (2012), a foodwatch Report by Christoph Then from testbiotech. Together these important reports provide an insider’s view of the interactions between academics, aid organizations, and corporations, three powerful players whose interests often conflict with those of aid recipients. The Great Vitamin A fiasco and responses to it can be found on the Food resources page and Golden Lies is found on the Biotechnology resources page of The Bioscience Resource Project.