Outrageous! Why are people opposed to GM rice which saves lives and prevents blindness?

[True Earthling]

7. That is an old article - There is a new strain that yields 10X more Vitamin A

The article uses the number of 31ug per 100G of rice. Current yields using Golden Rice 2 yield up to 37ug per 1G... thats a 10X increase...

Critics of genetically engineered crops have raised various concerns. One of these is that golden rice originally did not have sufficient vitamin A. This problem was solved by the development of new strains of rice.[3] However, there are still doubts about the speed at which vitamin A degrades once the plant is harvested, and how much would remain after cooking.[28] A 2009 study of boiled golden rice fed to volunteers concluded that golden rice is effectively converted into vitamin A in humans.[9]
Greenpeace opposes the release of any genetically modified organisms into the environment, and is concerned that golden rice is a Pandora's Box that will open the door to more widespread use of GMOs.[29]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rice

Potential contribution of Golden Rice to vitamin A deficiency alleviation

It is expected that in countries with high per capita consumption of rice, a locally adapted variety producing less than 30 µg of ?-carotene per gram of rice could be able to maintain appropriate levels of vitamin A in the body. Encouraging preliminary bioavailability studies indicate that regular consumption of Golden Rice will be able to provide the RDA in rice-based societies.
The Golden Rice Project is being moved forward at various levels. After the Golden Rice prototype obtained in the year 1999 (Ye et al. 2000) and which accumulated around 1.6 µg/g of ?-carotene in the grain, new lines were generated by using tissue-specific promoters in the gene constructs. This led to first Golden Rice 1 (GR1), which produced up to an average of 6 µg/g of ?-carotene. The latest development by Syngenta scientists (Paine et al.2005)— is GR2, which produces 31 µg/g— and more ?-carotene. Which lines will be used in the end will depend on the final outcome of the ongoing bioavailability studies and regional needs, calculated based on local dietary composition.

http://www.goldenrice.org/Content3-Why/why1_vad.html