Is it true that antigmo campaigns are causing wide scale death in 3rd world nations? Could you explain the situation to me, I used to think gmo was a bad idea until someone told me this.

Expert response from Cecilia Chi-Ham

Director Science & Technology, PIPRA

Friday, 08/08/2014 13:36

Many developing countries, including the one I am from, Honduras, are benefiting from GM and biotechnology. Corn is one of the staple crops in Honduras; however, almost 50 percent of the corn is imported. As a result, governmental food-security strategies include adoption of hybrid and GM corn to improve national production. In Honduras, anti-GMO activists have not been as vocal as they are in other parts of the world. In contrast, anti-GMO activists have been extremely vocal in the case of Golden Rice — unfortunately, at the expense of human lives.

Over the 12 years it has taken (and still takes) to develop and commercialize Golden Rice, approximately 8 million children have died of vitamin A deficiency (VAD), 1 to 2 million continue to die every year and over 500K go blind every year. Only 50 g of Golden Rice would supply 60 percent of the daily requirement of beta-carotene, yet activists continue to decry its potential, up to and including destroying the very scientific plots that could answer the question of whether it would assist in the fight against VAD.