Decades later, government declares life-saving GMOs "safe"
(Science Week – Day 3!)
Science Week is about noting the better world science brings us, and this might be my selections’ crowning example: a happy update to the long story of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. Their non-commercial project, a characteristically “golden” rice which combats vitamin A deficiency (with a shockingly high death rate, it turns out), was finally declared safe for consumption by their Department of Agriculture two months ago. It follows Canada and the United States by a year.
Science Week is also about lauding the prioritization of evidence over feeling, and it’s instructive to reflect on this decade’s controversy about GMOs, particularly in more fortunate nations. I’m still puzzled by the memory of acquaintances taking the position of the proverbial anti-vaxxers, relaying propaganda and supporting legal mandating of fearmongering product labels. (While vaccines are harmful to a vanishing few, I believe the casualty rate from commercially-available GMOs remains zero.) I choose “puzzled” sincerely because after the hype, that type seldom returns professing regret and clarifying their earlier thinking. If anyone has changed their opinion and cares to share that sort of story, I’ll consider it a service.
Meanwhile: to the health of many.