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[TBF]

29. Who is she? A physicist.

I am just starting to learn about the GMO issue as I generally tend to value science and it's methods (peer review, replicating studies etc). I post this simply so folks can look at the page and see that she is not a right-wing lunatic. But I don't know enough about GMO or Golden Rice (which seems to be a major issue right now) to draw any conclusions. Definitely an area where I need to read/research more. Here is what I found on wiki:

Vandana Shiva (Hindi: वंदना शिवा: born 5 November 1952) is an Indian environmental activist and anti-globalization author.[2] Shiva, currently based in Delhi, has authored more than 20 books.[3] She was trained as a physicist and received her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Philosophy from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, in 1978 with the doctoral dissertation "Hidden variables and locality in quantum theory."[4][5]

She is one of the leaders and board members of the International Forum on Globalization, (along with Jerry Mander, Edward Goldsmith, Ralph Nader, Jeremy Rifkin, et al.), and a figure of the global solidarity movement known as the alter-globalization movement. She has argued for the wisdom of many traditional practices, as is evident from her interview in the book Vedic Ecology (by Ranchor Prime) that draws upon India's Vedic heritage. She is a member of the scientific committee of the Fundacion IDEAS, Spain's Socialist Party's think tank. She is also a member of the International Organization for a Participatory Society.[6] She received the Right Livelihood Award in 1993, and numerous other prizes.

Source: wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandana_Shiva)

Golden rice

Shiva also opposes Golden rice, which, according scientific experts, could prevent millions of children from becoming blind every year and alleviate vitamin A deficiency of 250 million people in the developing countries.[19] Shiva said that the women of Bengal grow and eat 150 greens which can do the same.[19] Martina McGloughlin, director of the biotechnology program at the University of California at Davis angrily compared this to Marie Antoinette, who said that the peasants should eat cake if they don't have bread. The Nutrition Foundation of India's study of indigenous food in India confirms that there are plants with much higher beta carotene than what is being touted to be the selling point of 'Golden Rice' [20] Doctor Patrick Moore writes that most of these 250 million children don't eat much else than a bowl of rice a day.[21] Doctor Adrian Dubock says that golden rice is as cheap as other rice and vitamin A deficiency is the greatest reason for blindness and also causes 28% of global preschool child mortality.[22]

Shiva argues that Golden Rice is more harmful than beneficial in her scientific explanation of what she calls the "Golden Rice" hoax: "Unfortunately, Vitamin A rice is a hoax, and will bring further dispute to plant genetic engineering where public relations exercises seem to have replaced science in promotion of untested, unproven and unnecessary technology... This is a recipe for creating hunger and malnutrition, not solving it."[23]

At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, Ismail Serageldin, asked: "do you want 2 to 3 million children a year to go blind and 1 million to die of vitamin A deficiency, just because you object to the way golden rice was created?"[19]