Activists opposed to genetically modified (GM) foods lost little time responding. Potrykus and Beyer were attacked for the way they worked with companies to make seed available to the poor. Then, in February, Greenpeace got to the very germ of golden rice's existence. According to the organization's calculations, an adult "would have to eat around 9 kg of cooked rice daily to satisfy his/her daily need of vitamin A." That's about 20 pounds--clearly an unrealistic amount. In other words, Greenpeace argued, golden rice was little more than "fool's gold."
The Guardian in England soon picked up Greenpeace's argument, as did the New York Times on March 4, when op-ed columnist Michael Pollan faulted "the great yellow hype" given golden rice by industry advocates. In a letter to the London Independent, Benedikt Haerlin, Greenpeace coordinator in Berlin, refused to rule out direct action against test plants. Like rice at a wedding, ...
