Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have tremendous potential to help the hungry and malnourished.
In 1999, two scientists created “golden rice,” rice genetically infused with beta-carotene genes that are vital for the human body in producing vitamin A. Vitamin A deficiency plagues millions of children and pregnant woman in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that “250,000 to 500,000 vitamin A-deficient children become blind every year, half of them dying within 12 months of losing their sight.”
The invention of golden rice raised the possibility of allowing farmers in developing countries to plant and harvest the grain and help save lives.
However, even though golden rice underwent field trials about 10 years ago, it remains unavailable to farmers and, ultimately, the malnourished.
According to Jon Entine, executive director of the Genetic Literacy Project, groups like Greenpeace have vigorously campaigned to “block Golden Rice trials throughout Southeast Asia, instead promoting vitamin pills, organic gardening and political empowerment rather than readily available food.” Greenpeace proudly states that “Genetically Engineered crops make us dependent on toxic chemicals and corporate control of agriculture. They pose unknown risks to our environment—and ourselves.” The environmental group has successfully thwarted the planting of golden rice for consumption.
These concerns are unmerited, and they are hurting millions of people from meeting a most basic need. Moreover, it is hypocritical for anti-golden-rice activists—who live in relative comfort and don’t worry about where their next meal will come from—to actively block one of agriculture’s greatest breakthroughs for the severely malnourished.
GMOs shouldn’t be feared. Peter Singer, an ethicist and professor of bioethics at PrincetonUniversity said this in a February article pertaining to concerns raised by GMOs:
Genetically modified crops are now grown on about one-tenth of the world’s cropland, and none of the disastrous consequences that we Greens feared have come to pass. There is no reliable scientific evidence that GM foods cause illness, despite the fact that they receive much more intense scrutiny than more “natural” foods. (Natural foods can also pose health risks, as was shown recently by studies establishing that a popular type of cinnamon can cause liver damage.)
As noted in Heritage’s Solutions 2014, organizations like the WHO, the American Medical Association, and the Food and Drug Administration agree that GMOs are safe. In fact, they are currently used in much of America’s food supply.
Innovations in agriculture such as GMOs can help those in dire need of nutrients. Help for millions across the globe is available, but a stubborn environmentalist ideology and unfounded science stands in its way.
