Over 100,000 Kids Have Died Due to Greenpeace Blocking Genetically Enhanced Rice

[SVPete]

Over 100,000 Kids Have Died Due to Greenpeace Blocking Genetically Enhanced Rice, New Calculation Shows

https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/over-100-000-kids-died-204555433.html

Greenpeace and its activists allies have blocked for more than two decades the adoption of Golden Rice, which is genetically enhanced to produce the vitamin A precursor beta-carotene. The result, according to new calculations by DC Abundance founder and research director at the Golden Gate Institute for AI Abi Olvera, is that "delay has killed about 106,000 children and left another 210,000 to 425,000 blind."

Her conservative calculations of the deaths and disabilities caused by Greenpeace's scientifically ridiculous opposition to Golden Rice are focused on 11 countries in which the consumption of rice makes up a significant proportion of their people's diets.

As Olvera reports, the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that "250 000–500 000 children who are vitamin A-deficient become blind every year, and half of them die within 12 months of losing their sight." Vitamin A deficiency contributes to increased morbidity and mortality from common childhood infections. ... And it is the world's leading preventable cause of childhood blindness.

I have been debunking Greenpeace's unscientific opposition to Golden Rice since 2000 when the activist group claimed: "Greenpeace opposes golden rice because it has all the risks of any [genetically modified] crop." In my 2013 article, "Scientists Call Out Greenpeace for Killing and Blinding Kids," I hailed the blistering editorial in Science that asserted, "If ever there was a clear-cut cause for outrage, it is the concerted campaign by Greenpeace and other nongovernmental organizations, as well as by individuals, against Golden Rice."