A GRAIN OF HOPE--AND FEAR
The heroic efforts of biotechnologist Ingo Potrykus and his colleagues in developing beta-carotene-enhanced rice will save the lives of millions [SCIENCE, July 31]. Protesters who demand that this brilliantly humane enterprise be stopped should have their motives questioned. Their protest is nothing but the mindless hand waving of Luddites. Do they want the poor who live in Asia and elsewhere to starve? People must not succumb to the thinly veiled racism of so-called environmental activists. HOWARD R. OLSON Walnut Creek, Calif.
Genetically modifying plants to produce more food is a twofold folly. This untested and possibly...