Greenpeace has ignited a firestorm of protest in China over
a 2008 trial in which 24 children were fed rice that had a gene inserted to
increase Vitamin A content.
The additional Vitamin A proved effective in preventing
blindness.
However, columnist Margaret Wente, wrote in the Globe and
Mail that “the Chinese blogosphere lit up with outrage”.
And China’s top health authority denied it had approved the
research and demanded that Americans involved in creating the
genetically-modified rice and setting up the trial be investigated.
But the Americans say they obtained all of the necessary
approvals before they ran the trial.
Greenpeace has always opposed genetic engineering and
previously ridiculed the first efforts to produce rice with increased Vitamin A
because the GMO rice wasn’t producing enough to avert blindess.
The plant breeders have now elevated Vitamin A content to
greater than spinach and this rice is proving highly effective.
So, Wente concludes her column, “are Greenpeace and its
allies effectively allowing millions of children to go blind or die when there’s
a safe solution?
“The rest of us should be appalled.”
I have always been appalled by the science illiterates, including the organic movement, that oppose genetic engineering of plants, animals and poultry. Emotionally-driven ignorance champions rational thought. It's like embracing the Dark Ages.
