In the spring of 1999...
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In the spring of 1999, Ingo Potrykus, professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich, Switzerland, in collaboration with Pater Beyer of the University of Freiburg in Germany, finally developed a golden rice rich in beta-carotene, the nutrient that serves as a building block for vitamin A. For more than a decade he had dreamed of such a food that would improve the lives of millions around the world, since every year at least a million children die and 350,000 go blind from a vitamin-A deficiency. The two scientists struck a deal with London-based AstraZeneca, which holds the exclusive rights to one of the genes used to create the golden rice, enabling them to give away, at no charge, seeds to poor farmers around the world. However, critics of agricultural biotechnology erupted, and are stymieing the effort, claiming the seeds are unsafe, even though every test to date has confirmed the safety of such foods.
It is difficult to accept that someone would refuse an opportunity to save so many children from illness and death. Yet, there are those who refuse to accept God's offer of salvation through Jesus Christ, and are willing to accept the consequences of eternal death. The writer to the Hebrews urges everyone not to refuse, but to accept God's gracious offer.
--Guettler
It is difficult to accept that someone would refuse an opportunity to save so many children from illness and death. Yet, there are those who refuse to accept God's offer of salvation through Jesus Christ, and are willing to accept the consequences of eternal death. The writer to the Hebrews urges everyone not to refuse, but to accept God's gracious offer.
--Guettler
