Is Greenpeace a criminal organization?
In Southeast Asia and parts of Africa, people base their diet on rice. Rice produces provitamin A in the leaves, but not in the grain, which is what is eaten. Because of this, 250 million preschool-aged children worldwide currently suffer from vitamin A deficiency. Each year, between 250,000 and 500,000 of these children go blind, and half of them die within a year of going blind.
A rice that could have saved millions of lives
More than twenty years ago, Swiss scientists achieved an extraordinary milestone: by transferring genes from daffodils, corn, and bacteria, they got rice to produce beta-carotene, the precursor of vitamin A. The grain was yellow: that's why they called it Golden Rice, or golden rice. Two studies recently published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition They confirmed that just 50 grams of this rice covers 60% of a child's daily vitamin A requirements.
Greenpeace against science
The fact is that Greenpeace and the anti-GMO groups were taken aback. "Wow! Golden Rice would save lives, and besides, there's no multinational behind it!" But they quickly recovered, and their official position was ultimately that no GMO cultivation could be permitted. Golden Rice might save lives, but it was a Trojan horse against the anti-GMO groups: many more studies needed to be done on its effectiveness and safety for people and the planet, and so on and so forth.
One of their arguments is that it's not necessary, that you can get vitamin A from a varied diet based on mangoes or sweet potatoes. This is the typical argument of someone who has a full fridge. But let's see, with one or two euros a day to feed yourself, how many mangoes can you buy? Not many, frankly!
Science responds: 109 Nobel Prizes
In response to this situation, in 2016 more than 100 Nobel laureates decided to speak out and signed an open letter addressed to Greenpeace, the United Nations, and governments around the world. In it, they denounced the systematic campaign against genetically modified crops, and Golden Rice in particular. The text could not be clearer:
"We urge Greenpeace and its supporters to acknowledge the findings of relevant scientific and regulatory bodies and to abandon their opposition to Golden Rice, which has the potential to significantly reduce or even eliminate vitamin A deficiency in much of the world." They concluded with a stark question: "How many more children must die before this is considered a crime against humanity?"
Despite this warning from the world's leading figures in scientific thought, rejection of GMOs remains entrenched in many sectors. Even today, many governments block or hinder the use of these technologies for purely political, ideological, or dogmatic reasons. And while this is happening, hundreds of thousands of children continue to lose their lives each year due to a deficiency that we know how to prevent.
It seemed like it was getting better...
The United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand approved golden rice for consumption, deeming it safe for human consumption. And in 2021, the Philippines became the first country to authorize its cultivation. It seemed that science had finally won. But in 2024, following renewed environmental pressure, the Philippine Supreme Court suspended its authorization. Another step backward!
Sorry, but this isn't a scientific debate. It's a moral crisis. It is, as the Nobel Prize winners who signed the letter say, a crime against humanity.