The Media and I: Golden Rice

By Henry I. Miller, MS, MD — Sep 05, 2024

In my recent radio conversation with John Batchelor (CBS Eye on the World), we delved into the sad saga of Golden Rice — a revolutionary crop engineered to combat Vitamin A deficiency, a condition that claims the sight and lives of hundreds of thousands of children in poor countries each year.

I spoke with John Batchelor most recently about Golden Rice, a groundbreaking genetically engineered crop created by German scientists in the 1980s and ’90s, and hailed as a miraculous solution to vitamin A deficiency, which plagues millions worldwide. The prospect of a single crop staving off malnutrition and saving countless lives was nothing short of stunning. Golden Rice is a genetically engineered crop fortified with beta-carotene, the precursor of vitamin A, designed to prevent vitamin A deficiency, which causes blindness and death in hundreds of thousands of children annually in countries where rice is the primary source of calories.

Despite its effectiveness and the potential to have an impact on public health comparable to that of the Salk polio vaccine, Golden Rice has faced over 20 years of opposition from activist groups like Greenpeace, who have successfully stalled its commercialization, particularly in the Philippines. As I discussed, Greenpeace’s opposition was rooted in a cynical, baseless and misguided broader resistance to genetic engineering of crops, despite the clear life-saving benefits of Golden Rice and decades of safe use of such crops.

You can hear our entire conversation

Looking for a deeper dive?

Greenpeace's Cruel War on Genetically Engineered Crops Grinds On

Activism Imperils Potential of Golden Rice

Greenpeace’s Vile War on the Poor and Vulnerable

GMO Drama: Philippines Approves Golden Rice, Greenpeace Demands Poor Children Go Blind Anyway

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Henry I. Miller, MS, MD

Henry I. Miller, MS, MD, is the Glenn Swogger Distinguished Fellow at the American Council on Science and Health. His research focuses on public policy toward science, technology, and medicine, encompassing a number of areas, including pharmaceutical development, genetic engineering, models for regulatory reform, precision medicine, and the emergence of new viral diseases. Dr. Miller served for fifteen years at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a number of posts, including as the founding director of the Office of Biotechnology.