Washington Post: Golden rice, long an anti-GMO target, may finally get a chance to help children
Ed Regis, science writer and the author

“By the end of this week, Bangladesh’s agriculture minister is expected to announce the approval of ‘golden rice’ for sale and use, making the country the world’s first to embrace a food that could save hundreds of thousands of children in developing nations from blindness and death. … Its introduction in Bangladesh could be a monumental breakthrough for its acceptance worldwide. … Golden rice’s efficacy as a source of vitamin A has been shown in experiments going back to 2009 with human volunteers. But despite its promise, the rice has been attacked by critics of genetically modified foods ever since it was announced in the pages of the journal Science in 2000. … In short, the very government agencies that were supposed to protect human lives and health have instead been inadvertently responsible for years of mass blindness and death. … If Bangladesh does indeed approve golden rice for release, and if the rice is consumed by vitamin A-deficient children and ends up saving their sight and lives, then many regulatory authorities — and GMO critics — will have a lot of explaining to do” (11/11).