After 30 years, is a GM food breakthrough finally here?:
The reactions of bureaucracies to golden rice were also described by Beyer as “hard to believe”. “We have had to undergo endless trials and tests and endure endless amounts of bureaucracy. Yet new breeds of standard crops have no such problems, even though they are often created by exposing them to doses of radiation.
The story of Golden Rice serves as an enlightening case study in the battle over GMO approval.
Here is a Q & A interview that Mark Lynas conducted with Nina Federoff, a highly-accomplished plant scientist and science advisor to the Bush and Obama administrations.
Whether a human crop plant causes problems depends on the plant, how it is used and in what context and it matters not at all whether if was modified by modern techniques, old techniques or not modified at all.
Have a read and be prepared to discuss her views on how to assess the safety of GMO foods and how targeted engineering could be used to solve some significant challenges facing humanity.