GMO Not Dangerous, Over 100 Nobel Laureates State

Over 100 Nobel laureates agree that GMO food is actually okay for humans to consume, signing a letter urging Greenpeace to end its opposition for genetically modified organisms and asking them to cease their efforts in blocking the introduction of a genetically engineered strain of rice.

The Washington Post noted that Greenpeace supporters have been saying that this strain could reduce vitamin-A deficiencies causing blindness and death in children in developing countries.

The letter stated, "We urge Greenpeace and its supporters to re-examine the experience of farmers and consumers worldwide with crops and foods improved through biotechnology, recognize the findings of authoritative scientific bodies and regulatory agencies, and abandon their campaign against 'GMOs' in general and Golden Rice in particular."

Organized by Richard Roberts of the New England Biolabs and Phillip Sharp, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in psysiology or medicine, the campaign was able to get together a long list of signatories and is planning on holding a news conference regarding the issue.

Roberts told Washington Post that what Greenpeace has been doing it damaging and is anti-science, saying that the organization, as well as their allies, have been going out of their way to scare people as a way to raise money for their cause.

Rice - Golden Rice in particular - has become a symbol to make impactful humanitarian advances in GMOs amid government regulation, reported CS Monitor. This is the specific strain of GMO crop that Greenpeace has especially been adamant to block,

Still, Greenpeace is vehement about their stance against GMOs. A statement from the Manila chapter said that "the only guaranteed solution to fix malnutrition is a diverse healthy diet." The organization also pointed out that the experiment, which has been ongoing for over 20 years, still failed to gain positive results.

The Golden Rice, which remains in crop testing in the Philippines and Bangladesh, is hoped to alleviate world hunger and malnutrion, especially in developing countries. "A lot of the criticism of GMOs in the Western world suffers from a lack of understanding of how really dire the situation is in developing countries." Michael D. Purugganan, a professor of genomics and biology and dean for science at the New York University told The New York Times.

Greenpeace seems set in their stance, but there is no telling how the government will react.