Ingo Potrykus
Professor Emeritus, ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Member of Academia Europaea; and Recipient of the
International Society for Plant Molecular Biology 2000 Kumho Science International Award
EMOTIONS ARE THE PROBLEM, NOT
RATIONAL DISCOURSE
The term "golden rice" was coined by a Thai businessman
who is active in initiatives aimed at reducing
the birth rate, a major cause of the food security
problem. As it turned out, the term "golden rice" has
proven to be enormously successful in piquing the
interest of the public. (I gave up tallying its mention
in the popular media after more than 30 television
broadcasts and 300 newspaper articles, but I am still
busy with requests for interviews every week.) It is
difficult to estimate how much of its celebrity stems
from its catchy moniker and how much is from the
technological breakthrough it represents. Needless to
say, we live in a society that is strongly influenced
(not to say manipulated) by the media. As the......
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