John Meredith, a member of the African-American leadership network Project 21 of the National Center for Public Policy Research (a nonpartisan think-tank), says genetically improved foods can end hunger in America and starvation and disease in Africa if its misguided opponents don’t stop it first: “Environmentalists are attacking biotechnology, trying to convince the government and the public that the science is unsafe. What’s really unsafe, however, is their attempt to stop valuable research and the production of foods and medicines. As a black American, I consider this opposition as elitism in its cruelest form since the poorest members of the population, blacks in particular, are going to suffer because of it…. But while these elitists can still drive their VW Beetles to Fresh Fields for organic lettuce, inner-city blacks must rely on the local Wendy’s for their tomatoes and their brothers in Africa continue to starve. Apparently more blacks must die so that they can save the world.” (“Bio-foods can end hunger in America and starvation and disease in Africa,” Knight Ridder, 8/11/00)
