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for the results of future research, it is worth considering more immediate ways to solve problems of vitamin A deficiency. Taken together, the many nutritional, physiological, and cultural factors that affect vitamin A status suggest that the addition of a single nutrient to food will have limited effectiveness. Instead, a combination of supplementation, fortification, and dietary approaches is likely to be needed—approaches such as promoting the production and consumption of fruits and vegetables rich in beta-carotene, educating people about how to use such foods, and improving the quantity and variety of foods in the diet (so beta-carotene can be better absorbed). Perhaps most helpful would be basic public health measures such as providing adequate supplies of clean water (to prevent transmission of diarrheal and parasitic diseases). Long-term solutions to the problem of vitamin A deficiency in particular, and malnutrition in general, continue to depend on societal interventions such as education, housing, health care, employment, and income—all more difficult and complicated, but ultimately more likely to be effective, than genetic engineering. Can genetic engineering usefully contribute to such efforts? Possibly, but that question cannot yet be answered.32 In the meantime, the industry’s public relations campaign continues.

One notable feature of the debates about Golden Rice is that its safety did not emerge as a major point of contention. Greenpeace found much to criticize without emphasizing safety issues but did raise one such issue—environmental effects: “GE rice, like other genetically modified organisms (GMOs) released into the environment, is a form of living pollution and its environmental impact is not only unpredictable and uncontrollable but also irreversible.”24 Dr. Potrykus responded to this charge by explaining that Golden Rice is no different from ordinary rice: “As the pathway [of beta-carotene synthesis] is already in rice (and in every green plant), and the difference is only in its activity in the endosperm, it is very hard to construct any selective advantage for Golden Rice in any environment, and therefore, any environmental hazard.” What most concerned Dr. Potrykus was the threat that Greenpeace might engage in ecoterrorism and interfere with test plantings. He warned Greenpeace, “If you plan to destroy test fields to prevent responsible testing and development of Golden Rice for the humanitarian purpose, you will be accused of contributing to a crime against humanity.”33

In the next chapter, we will examine environmental and other potential risks of genetically modified foods as a basis for evaluating the industry’s contention: if genetically modified foods are safe, no opposition to them is justified. We will also examine how Greenpeace and other groups concerned about broader societal issues use questions about safety to raise dread and outrage and rally public support for their goals.

CHAPTER 6

RISKS AND BENEFITS

WHO DECIDES?

IN JUNE 2001, THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUST’S INITIATIVE ON Food and Biotechnology, a project devoted to establishing an “independent and objective source of credible information on agricultural biotechnology,” conducted a survey of public attitudes toward transgenic foods in the United States. In answer to the question “How concerned are you about the safety of eating genetically modified foods in general?” two-thirds (65%) of respondents expressed some level of concern, and the rest expressed little.1 These results seemed to indicate a fairly high level of anxiety about genetically modified foods. But do they? The answers to questions about food biotechnology sometimes depend on who is asking them. A few months later, in September 2001, the industry-sponsored International Food Information Council (IFIC) asked the question in a different way: “What, if anything, are you concerned about when it comes to food safety?” Only 2% of respondents thought to mention genetically modified foods (as compared to the 30% who mentioned microbial pathogens and the 25% who