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

[True Earthling]

Someone please explain the rationale for this...

On three different occasions now, three different groups of experts, with no ax to grind and no stake in vitamin firms, have reached the same answer. Enhancing nutrients, they calculate, yields benefits 30 times greater than costs. The readers of Slate magazine, given the chance to vote on the Copenhagen Consensus in recent weeks, mostly agreed-putting micronutrients second only to family planning. The evidence for micronutrients has been getting stronger. Studies from Guatemala, following up children for 30 years, find that good early nutrition not only combats stunting and increases intelligence but, says Dr. Lomborg, "also translates into higher education and substantially higher (23.8%) incomes in adult life, which not only matters to the individuals but also starts a virtuous circle."

Vitamin A deficiency affects the immune system, leading to illness and frequently to blindness. It probably causes more deaths than malaria, HIV or tuberculosis each year, killing as many people as the Fukushima tsunami every single day. It can be solved by eating green vegetables and meat, but for many poor Asians, who can afford only rice, that remains an impossible dream. But "biofortification" with genetically modified plant food (such as golden rice) is 1/10th as costly as dietary supplements.

"Golden rice"-with two extra genes to make beta-carotene, the raw material for vitamin A-was a technical triumph, identical to ordinary rice except in color. Painstaking negotiations led to companies waiving their patent rights so the plant could be grown and regrown free by anybody. Yet today, 14 years later, it still has not been licensed to growers anywhere in the world. The reason is regulatory red tape deliberately imposed to appease the opponents of genetic modification, which Adrian Dubock, head of the Golden Rice project, describes as "a witch-hunt for suspected theoretical environmental problems ... [because] many activist NGOs thought that genetically engineered crops should be opposed as part of their anti-globalization agenda."

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/red-tape-hobbles-a-harvest-of-life-saving-rice.aspx

[randome]

1. Some of us aren't so much against it...

...as against not having it labeled as such.

Power to the consumer.

But there are sometimes unforeseen side-effects to the environment. And most food scarcity problems are caused by distribution difficulties and arable land being in short supply. Not a shortage of available food per se.

[marmar]

2. ........

THE "GOLDEN RICE" HOAX -
When Public Relations replaces Science

by Dr. Vandana Shiva

"Golden Rice": A technology for creating Vitamin A deficiency.



Golden rice has been heralded as the miracle cure for malnutrition and hunger of which 800m members of
the human community suffer.

Herbicide resistant and toxin producing genetically engineered plants can be objectionable because of their
ecological and social costs. But who could possibly object to rice engineered to produce vitamin A, a
deficiency found in nearly 3 million children, largely in the Third World?

As remarked by Mary Lou Guerinot, the author of the Commentary on Vitamin A rice in Science, one
can only hope that this application of plant genetic engineering to ameliorate human misery without regard
to short term profit will restore this technology to political acceptability.

Unfortunately, Vitamin A rice is a hoax, and will bring further dispute to plant genetic engineering where
public relations exercises seem to have replaced science in promotion of untested, unproven and
unnecessary technology. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/GEessays/goldenricehoax.html

[NYC_SKP]

3. +1 (nt)

[drokhole]

6. Fantastic, thanks!

[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

[marmar]

8. Give it up. Your OP source has been exposed as a fraud.

nt

[True Earthling]

10. I don't care if the article was written by George Bush

From other sources I've been reading Golden Rice looks to me like it could benefit hundreds of millions of people at a very low cost. I don't agree with Greenpeace that this would be a backdoor way for the big Ags to come in with other GM crops. Greenpeace says GM rice will fail and there are other, better, cheaper ways but then they don't give any details - so I call bullshit. If GM rice fails as they say then these countries won't have anything to do with another GM crop.

[marmar]

14. More reading for you......

Golden Lies: The Seed Industry's Questionable Golden Rice Project

http://foodwatch.de/foodwatch/content/e6380/e49257/e49269/2012_gen-reis_englisch_final_ger.pdf

[tabasco]

22. There's a lot of gullible people in the world

Right, true earthling?

[True Earthling]

23. Very true - on both sides of the aisle.

I'll admit I'm wrong if the evidence says so. I try not to let my ego get in the way.

[True Earthling]

12. The article you posted was inaccurate...

Should I write you off as a fraud?

[marmar]

15. Umm, I'll trust Vandana Shiva over some crackpot industry shill any day.

And I didn't call YOU a fraud, I called the source in your OP a fraud. But you knew that, didn't you?

[True Earthling]

19. Yes I knew that.... and I didn't call you a fraud.

Industry shill? That would be news. Can you prove that?

The most recent comments by Vandana Shiva I could find were from about a year ago...

"Even the nutrition argument is manipulated. Golden rice genetically engineered to increase Vitamin A produces 70 times less Vitamin A than available alternatives such as coriander leaves and curry leaves. "

http://www.vandanashiva.org/?p=536

She made the same point in the older article. My retort would be well why haven't those millions of acres of rice fields been converted to raise coriander and curry yet? So her "Golden Rice doesn't yield enough bCarotene" has been shot down and this is all she got? That's a piss poor argument IMO.

[HiPointDem]

45. Vitamin A & beta-carotene are easy to get from food. There are lots of good sources.

A kid can get the RDA for Vit A in a small cup of almost any orange or dark green vegetable.

If a kid has a vit-a deficiency he's either malnourished generally (i.e. eating a diet that consists of mostly of charity rice with limited supplements of other foods), or he has a physical problem (genetic or dietary) that's impairing conversion of beta-carotene to vitamin A.

Engineering rice to is the WORST way of "solving" the problem and may not solve it at all if the child is generally malnourished.

[EFerrari]

16. There may be no one more credible on this topic than Vandana Shiva.

Which anyone interested in this topic would probably know.

[Odin2005]

17. No use arguing with luddites.

They have written GMOs off as evil and satanic just because the greedy SOBs at Monsanto are misusing the technology. The problems with Monsanto's GMOs have to do with Monsanto designing them is a self-serving way so they can sell more RoundUp, a noxious substance associated with lowered IQs and an increased incidence of ADHD; it has nothing to do with the concept of GMOs themselves.

But there is no use reasoning with people who call GMOs "frankenfood".

[marmar]

18. Who mentioned Monsanto? You interjected it, and now you're calling people Luddites?

The strident daftness around here can boggle the mind sometimes.....

[kestrel91316]

39. Why do you hate leafy greens and orange-fleshed squash

(traditional and very cheap sources of Vitamin A)???

[Odin2005]

42. I don't. I love baby spinach. False Dichotomy.

Why do you hate rice with extra vitamin A?

[HiPointDem]

46. Why do you hate children having well-balanced diets, instead of diets consisting mostly of

subsidized charity rice from america?

The reason a lot of these kids are malnourished in the first place is because subsidized charity rice from america has destroyed the agricultural sector in their countries, small farmers can't make enough to feed their families and so lose their land and even more become dependent on subsidized charity rice from america -- plus they now have no land to keep small livestock and grow orange and green vegetables on.

[True Earthling]

49. This is a lot more complicated than I thought.

Thre are a lot of issues that need to be sorted out. Not convinced one way or the other though. How did charity rice destroy the ag sector? Were the yields too low?

[HiPointDem]

53. Because free rice undercuts market prices, not just for rice but also for other staple grains. When

smallholders can't get cash for what used to be their main source of cash income for taxes and/or other necessary cash payments, they lose their land and join the ever-larger pool of indigents reliant on charity rice, whose children are malnourished because of a monotonous diet of charity rice.

meanwhile, multinational corps will take over the land the smallholders were forced off of by the guns of subsidized charity rice.

The case of haiti is instructive.

http://www.fourwinds10.net/siterun_data/history/american/news.php?q=1264014431

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/1/clinton_rice

[True Earthling]

56. But the plan for Golden Rice is for farmers to grow it...

not the same as charity rice - right?

[HiPointDem]

58. Maybe you should ask yourself *which* farmers. Look past the PR.

[jwirr]

77. In Nigeria the small family farmers were driven off their land which the peanut farms then occupied

and exported what they grew. They are now living in Lagos with their malnutricianed grand children. (This happened many years ago.)

[jwirr]

76. Bingo.

[ronnie624]

79. *

[Prometheus Bound]

35. "expected...potential...depend on" - any hard data published that would prove the claims?

I can't find any.

How much carotene is in the rice after four weeks of storage and 20 minutes of cooking?

If they can't even answer that after all these years, how do you know it will save lives and prevent blindness?

[True Earthling]

43. There is a clinical trial by Tufts University

Results due Aug 2012..

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT00680355?term=golden%20+rice&rank=1

[Prometheus Bound]

66. I see. There is no proof of the claims. So this thread is a waste of time.

[obamanut2012]

72. Wait, you are citing a study not even finished yet???

Scientific FAIL.

[burrowowl]

32. Hear! Hear!

[NYC_SKP]

4. Personally, I think your source author is a crackpot:

pie in the sky, nothing wrong in our system, woo hoo, keep on building and growing yay!!!

Rational Optimist
The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

Published: May 2010 (All day)

A counterblast to the prevailing pessimism of our age, and proves, however much we like to think to the contrary, that things are getting better.

Over 10,000 years ago there were fewer than 10 million people on the planet. Today there are more than 6 billion, 99 per cent of whom are better fed, better sheltered, better entertained and better protected against disease than their Stone Age ancestors. The availability of almost everything a person could want or need has been going erratically upwards for 10,000 years and has rapidly accelerated over the last 200 years: calories; vitamins; clean water; machines; privacy; the means to travel faster than we can run, and the ability to communicate over longer distances than we can shout.

Yet, bizarrely, however much things improve from the way they were before, people still cling to the belief that the future will be nothing but disastrous. In this original, optimistic book, Matt Ridley puts forward his surprisingly simple answer to how humans progress, arguing that we progress when we trade and we only really trade productively when we trust each other. The Rational Optimist will do for economics what Genome did for genomics and will show that the answer to our problems, imagined or real, is to keep on doing what we've been doing for 10,000 years -- to keep on changing.

Convenient for corporations, I suppose, not so much for the suffering people and places on this planet.

[pscot]

9. Ridley is not so easy to pin down

I think he's wrong about climate change and he's a libertarian, which lumps him in with Ron Paul and other loonies of that ilk, but he's very adroit at disavowing the implications of what he preaches. He has some science cred and he's slippery as hell.

[Prometheus Bound]

5. Bjørn Lomborg? Just for the record, his PhD is in political science not nutrition.

Accusations of scientific dishonesty
After the publication of The Skeptical Environmentalist, Lomborg was accused of scientific dishonesty. Several environmental scientists brought a total of three complaints against Lomborg to the Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty (DCSD), a body under Denmark's Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The charges claimed that The Skeptical Environmentalist contained deliberately misleading data and flawed conclusions. Due to the similarity of the complaints, the DCSD decided to proceed on the three cases under one investigation.

DCSD investigation
On January 6, 2003 the DCSD reached a decision on the complaints. The ruling sent a mixed message, deciding the book to be scientifically dishonest, but Lomborg himself not guilty because of lack of expertise in the fields in question:[8]

Objectively speaking, the publication of the work under consideration is deemed to fall within the concept of scientific dishonesty. ...In view of the subjective requirements made in terms of intent or gross negligence, however, Bjørn Lomborg's publication cannot fall within the bounds of this characterization. Conversely, the publication is deemed clearly contrary to the standards of good scientific practice.

The DCSD cited The Skeptical Environmentalist for:

1.Fabrication of data;
2.Selective discarding of unwanted results (selective citation);
3.Deliberately misleading use of statistical methods;
4.Distorted interpretation of conclusions;
5.Plagiarism;
6.Deliberate misinterpretation of others' results.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B8rn_Lomborg

[True Earthling]

11. How about Ingo Potrykus?

Is he a fake?

Why all the focus on the source? Maybe he wrote some flaky articles but that doesn't mean EVERYTHING he writes is bullshit. I'll take each one on it's own merits as I do with any thing I read. I don't agree with every liberal author either but I don't just write them off because of a few things I disagree with.

Another person who spotted the importance of micronutrients a long time ago is a Swiss geneticist, Ingo Potrykus. Realizing that insufficient calories was not the only form of malnutrition, he concluded that vitamin A deficiency, for those living on a monotonous diet of rice, was the most tractable of the big problems facing the world. He and Peter Beyer designed a new variety of rice plant that could be given away free to help the poorest people in the world.

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/red-tape-hobbles-a-harvest-of-life-saving-rice.aspx

The "Golden Rice" Tale

By Ingo Potrykus
Professor Emeritus, Institute of Plant Sciences,
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Centre, LFW 53.1,
CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland
([email protected])

"Golden Rice" is, to date, a popular case - supported by the scientific community, the agbiotech industry, the media, the public, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), official developmental aid institutions, etc., but equally strongly opposed by the opponents of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The first group likes "Golden Rice" because it is an excellent example of how genetic engineering of plants can be of direct benefit to the consumer, especially the poor and the disadvantaged in developing countries, where GMOs offer many more opportunities for the improvement of livelihood than for those living in well-fed developed nations.

The GMO opposition, however, is concerned that "Golden Rice" will be a kind of "Trojan Horse", opening the developing countries to other applications of the GMO technology, and for improving acceptance of GMO food. Indra Vasil persuaded me to write the Golden Rice Tale because the background behind this success, which is embedded in numerous failures and obstacles, and which covers the entire history of the development of plant genetic engineering, might be of interest to those who are faced with the numerous specific problems of strategic research, where the target is set at the outset, where no attractive alternatives to existing academic questions are available, where success is measured in relation to the original target, and not in relation to possible attractive academic solutions.

http://www.agbioworld.org/biotech-info/topics/goldenrice/tale.html

[Odin2005]

13. Because people think just because Monstanto misuses genetic engineering...

...it means all GMOs are bad by definition. It's like saying dynamite is bad because it can be made into bombs.

(and yes, I know Lomborg is a dick).

[stevenleser]

20. You really like to pen OPs with right wing memes

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002701144

Are you sure you are on the right website? I think you would be more comfortable on Red State or Free Republic.

[True Earthling]

21. Since when is wanting to save lives and prevent blindness a "right wing meme"?

Why don't you argue the subject instead of making personal attacks? Intellectual shallowness?

[stevenleser]

24. Nope, that is not why me and others are here. We are here to talk with other

Democrats/Liberals/Progressives. I love arguing with Republicans, (for proof of that search on my name in youtube) just not here. Sorry.

Enjoy your time here for as long as it lasts.

[True Earthling]

27. Not a republican

My profile... http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=262412

If you don't want discourse that's your call. I'm not going anywhere.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

28. The CATO Institute is funded by the Koch brothers and big corporations.

It doesn't get more right wing than that.

[True Earthling]

29. Where's the connection to the Cato Institute?

Are they funding the Golden Rice program?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

30. The author of your OP is a frequent contributor to CATO.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=&source=hp&q=matt+ridley+cato+institute&oq=Matt+Ridley+cato&aq=0K&aqi=g-K2&aql=1&gs_l=mobile-gws-hp.1.0.0i30l2.5127.8538.0.10339.9.6.0.3.3.0.227.1057.0j1j4.5.0.chyp%2Ca%3D1%2Cb%3D1000%2Cn%3D5%2Ct%3D2.1.0.0.

[True Earthling]

33. I admit I do like Ridley so guilty as charged..

I enjoy his articles that examine social and economic issues from a scientific and evolutionary point of view. As far as his political views go he wrote this...

In an email exchange, Ridley responded to environmental activist Mark Lynas' repeated charges of a right wing agenda with the following reply:

On the topic of labels, you repeatedly call me a member of “the right”. Again, on what grounds? I am not a reactionary in the sense of not wanting social change: I make this abundantly clear throughout my book. I am not a hierarchy lover in the sense of trusting the central authority of the state: quite the opposite. I am not a conservative who defends large monopolies, public or private: I celebrate the way competition causes creative destruction that benefits the consumer against the interest of entrenched producers. I do not preach what the rich want to hear — the rich want to hear the gospel of Monbiot, that technological change is bad, that the hoi polloi should stop clogging up airports, that expensive home-grown organic food is the way to go, that big business and big civil service should be in charge. So in what sense am I on the right? I am a social and economic liberal: I believe that economic liberty leads to greater opportunities for the poor to become less poor, which is why I am in favour of it. Market liberalism and social liberalism go hand in hand in my view.[32]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_White_Ridley,_5th_Viscount_Ridley

[UnrepentantLiberal]

41. This line sounds like classic Cato double speak.

It always reminds me of religious cult brainwashing:

the rich want to hear the gospel of Monbiot, that technological change is bad, that the hoi polloi should stop clogging up airports, that expensive home-grown organic food is the way to go

He claims to be a liberal as well. I don't buy that either.

[HangOnKids]

68. But But Read His Profile

He likes ColdPlay and some other cool bands.

[kestrel91316]

40. The OP is an obvious RW troll. I give him another 2 weeks.

[stevenleser]

44. Yep, obvious troll is obvious. They all think they are being slick. nt

[DCBob]

59. yeah, i think their strategy to post the most controversial issues..

attempting to get us arguing amongst ourselves. This guy is pretty slick and appears to be legit on the surface but his repeated posts on issues like this give him away.

[Starry Messenger]

50. I called it last September-

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2013533#2017955

Still waiting...

[stevenleser]

54. With your link that is three posts with right wing memes. Unfortunately, poster has too many

posts for MIRT at this point, I think. The Admins would need to take action.

[Starry Messenger]

57. I believe you are correct.

Anything over 100 has to go to Admins for scrutiny.

[obamanut2012]

64. MIRT can PRR them with +100 posts

They can just get them with 100 or under just because.

[obamanut2012]

63. You and Starry are mistaken

Over 100 can be PRRed with no hidden posts. Over 100 generally takes hidden posts, but not always. MIRT can do it.

[obamanut2012]

62. Yup, I first notived it

With their Zimmerman threads and posts.

[obamanut2012]

61. So you've noticed that too?

[eShirl]

25. in the meantime, is anyone trying to provide these people with regular vitamin A?

[kestrel91316]

38. They can get plenty of Vitamin A from eating leafy greens and

orange squash, as they traditionally have.

They don't need a genetically engineered corporate boondoggle that will cost them more than they could ever afford.

It's just one more way to pick the pockets of the poor.

[HiPointDem]

47. Charity rice from america undercuts prices in their ag sector, meaning small farmers lose their land

and become dependent on charity rice.

Because they can't afford much *more* than subsidized charity rice from america, their children become malnourished and then the nice americans will engineer vitamins into the nice charity rice and speculate on the land that once belonged to the small farmers, by deed or tradition.

ain't capitalism grand?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

52. Absolutely true. This led to starvation in Haiti.

[otohara]

26. I Was In A Focus Group About This in 2000

The commercials we were shown were all Americana, flags, wheat blowing, family farmers, and how we were going to save children from a life of blindness.

Some friends of mine did a stint in Indonesia back in the late 80's for the Helen Keller foundation. They laced the MSG with Vitamin A

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

31. Because it is easy to ask other people to die for YOUR principles

No western progressive will ever die a principled death in their opposition to modern agriculture.

[HiPointDem]

48. Charity rice from america is making it impossible for traditional agriculture to exist. It

*undercuts* the market, throws small farmers off their land, results in malnourished children and increases the demand for charity rice.

A lovely vicious circle.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

51. traditional agriculture doesn't need to exist

Subsistence agriculture can't feed 7 billion people,

[HiPointDem]

55. It doesn't have to feed 7 billion people. And neither is hi-tech agriculture feeding 7 billion

people today, as is obvious from the fact of children with vitamin deficiencies that are easily avoidable by eating a handful of turnip greens every day -- turnip and other dark greens being one of the most easily grown and ubiquitous foods in africa -- if you have access to land or money.

Golden rice is a fucking joke.

[Fumesucker]

67. The problem being that agribusiness *won't* feed six or seven or however many billion people..

Traditional agriculture can't, agribusiness won't..

The devil and the deep blue sea, Sen Sobchack, we are neatly caught betwixt them.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

80. Modern agriculture most certainly will, if it is allowed to...

The only challenges in feeding the developing world are political where you have maniacs like Robert Mugabe who have destroyed agriculture and misc. white morons who are obstructing agricultural foreign aide because of genetic engineering, or concern for preserving neolithic agriculture or any number of reasons of absolutely ZERO interest to a starving person.

[Fumesucker]

81. Where's the profit in feeding the starving?

Agribusiness is first and foremost *business*, if there's no profit in something they won't be doing it.

[kestrel91316]

36. Wow. Another RW talking point from you. Amazing.

How much stock in Monsanto do you own?

[HiPointDem]

37. Because Vit A a/o beta-carotene are so easy to find in foods that the only reason kids would

have vit A deficiencies is because rice is the only bloody thing they're eating?

In which case, the best answer is not to feed them more of it with a genetically-engineered vitamin pill inside, the best answer is to feed them a balanced diet.

But that would involve more than giving them charity rice with a vitamin tablet.

Besides which, if they're deficient in VA, they're probably deficient in other things as well, and feeding them big doses of VA may do as much harm as good.

Best just give them charity vitamin drops if that's the way you want to go, and forget about engineering the vitamin into the rice.

But that wouldn't put money into monsanto's pocket.

[bhikkhu]

60. GM food, along with the "Green Revolution", has done a good job feeding the world's population

Easy to say, and pretty hard to argue with. Doesn't mean I'm going to lobby for Monsanto or anything, and I still wish Round-up didn't exist...

[ibegurpard]

65. can this genetically modified rice produce its own seeds?

or will people have to constantly be purchasing replacement seeds from the producer? Is the producer of it the "owner"...meaning everyone who plants it will have to pay them a licensing fee?
How does a genetically modified plant fit into the natural ecosystem?

It all sounds great until you start looking at the potential downsides.

[jwirr]

78. Those are the real questions that need answering. Farmers in Africa and around the world have

up until now been able to save their own seeds and thus be self-sufficient. Now the GM business holds a monopoly on our foods.

[99Forever]

69. Why are people opposed?

Do you require a list of products that were marketed as "safe" and "modern miracles" that ended up maiming, permanently sickening, and killing people by the thousands?

Before they start feeding this "magic rice" to millions, how's about all of the board of directors, senior management, vendors of and employees of Monsanto live on a steady diet of it for a couple of years?

Soylent Green is people.

[Honeycombe8]

73. +1. Why do GM companies oppose their products being labeled "GM"? That's the real argument. nt

[99Forever]

75. The answer to that is obvious.

People won't buy it because they have seen the results of other "new and improved" garbage from these snakeoil salesmen before.

This ain't brain surgery.

[sendero]

70. How about this?

It is probably WAY CHEAPER to just DISTRIBUTE VITAMIN A than to accept the business model of the GM seed producer.

If it has ANYTHING to do with MONSTANTO, only a moron would be in favor of it.

[obamanut2012]

74. I was thinking that, too

Even a daily vitamin would be cheaper.

[quaker bill]

71. Because it actually doesn't?

[magical thyme]

82. why not add carrots and sweet potatoes to their diets instead

along with leafy green vegetables? Which not only would provide vitamin A, but other needed vitamins and minerals. More expensive in the short run, but far healthy for everybody in the long run.

Seriously. We have to get off this insane concept of forcing the world into eating a single, genetically modified food product and get back to growing a large variety of foods, with a large variety of strains of each.

Dependance on a single, one-size-fits-all food product leaves the world vulnerable to famine should any sort of blight come into being.