What are the biggest benefits that genetic engineering can offer the developing world?
PR: In the U.S., farmers can afford to use insecticides. They prefer to use less, because of the toxicity, and everyone wants to save money where they can, which means farmers want to use fewer insecticides. But in less-developed countries, often there isn’t even a choice. Farmers can’t afford to buy these insecticides, which puts them at risk of losing their crops, and sometimes these farms are only a couple acres in size. There are also real health implications. 500,000 children die a year from the lack of Vitamin A, which comes in foods they can’t afford, and an even larger number lose their eyesight. However, there is a new kind of rice coming out called Golden Rice, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, which has pro-vitamin A in the grains themselves. Recent published studies have predicted that thousands of children’s lives will be saved in the first year this rice is released. CE: What’s interesting to me is the heavy focus on education. You spend a lot of time detailing how yo
