Tom Fudge: Human blindness can be due to accidents. It can be due to genetics. But it can also be caused by malnutrition. Around the world more than a hundred million children suffer from vision problems because they don't get enough Vitamin A. That's a vitamin found in leafy vegetables that include carrots. That's right, carrots really are good for your eyes.
When Howard Schiffer learned that simply providing more Vitamin A could prevent many children from going blind, it changed his life, or at least it changed his line of work. Howard founded a group called Vitamin Angels, which is devoted to eradicating childhood blindness. Vitamin Angels also raises money for vitamins that prevent other illnesses caused by malnutrition.
Guests
- Howard Schiffer, executive director Vitamin Angels , a non-profit committed to eradicating childhood blindness due to Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD) by the year 2020. Operation 20/20 is the first major step in this global campaign, which will launch in 18 countries in 2007.
- Dr. Robert Pendleton , ophthalmologist at the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. He volunteers with See International , a non-profit humanitarian organization dedicated to treating vision problems in developing countries.
