Section 3: Reading and Research

from The Great Yellow Hype by Michael Pollan

published in the New York Times magazine March 4, 2004
1
Unless I'm missing something, the aim of the biotechnology industry's audacious new
advertising campaign is to impale people like me -- well-off first worlders dubious about genetically
engineered food -- on the horns of a moral dilemma. Have you seen these ads? Over a speedy
montage of verdant rice paddies, smiling Asian kids and kindly third-world doctors, a caring voice
describes something called golden rice and its promise to "help prevent blindness and infection in
millions of children" suffering from vitamin-A deficiency. This new rice has been engineered, using a
daffodil gene, to produce beta-carotene, a nutrient the body can convert into vitamin A. Watching the
pitch, you can almost feel the moral ground shifting under your feet. For the unspoken challenge
here is that if we don't get over our queasiness about eating genetically modified food, kids in the
third world will go blind.
2
It appears that biotechnology, which heretofore had little more to offer the world than plants
that could shake off a shower of herbicide, has finally found a "killer app" that can silence its critics
and win over journalists. It's working, too: Time magazine put golden rice on its cover, declaring, "This
rice could save a million kids a year." Even Greenpeace has acknowledged that "golden rice is a
moral challenge to our position."
3
Yet the more one learns about biotechnology's Great Yellow Hope, the more uncertain seems
its promise -- and the industry's command of the moral high ground. Indeed, it remains to be seen
whether golden rice will ever offer as much to malnourished children as it does to beleaguered
biotech companies. Its real achievement may be to win an argument rather than solve a publichealth problem. Which means we may be witnessing the advent of the world's first purely rhetorical
technology.
4
If that sounds harsh, consider this: an 11-year-old would have to eat 15 pounds of cooked
golden rice a day -- quite a bowlful -- to satisfy his minimum daily requirement of vitamin A. Even if
that were possible (or if scientists boosted beta-carotene levels), it probably wouldn't do a
malnourished child much good, since the body can only convert beta-carotene into vitamin A when
fat and protein are present in the diet. Fat and protein in the diet are, of course, precisely what a
malnourished child lacks.
5
Further, there's no guarantee people will eat yellowish rice. Brown rice, after all, is already
rich in nutrients, yet most Asians prefer white rice, which is not. Rice has long had a complicated set
of meanings in Asian culture. Confucius, for example, extolled the pure whiteness of rice as the ideal
backdrop for green vegetables. That works fine so long as you've still got the vegetables. But once
rice became a monoculture cash crop, it crowded the green vegetables out of people's fields and out
of their diet.
6
Proponents of golden rice acknowledge that persuading people to eat it may require an
educational campaign. This begs a rather obvious question. Why not simply a campaign to persuade
them to eat brown rice? Or how about teaching people how to grow green vegetables on the margins
of their rice fields, and maybe even give them the seeds to do so? Or what about handing out
vitamin-A supplements to children so severely malnourished their bodies can't metabolize betacarotene?

7
As it happens, these ridiculously obvious, unglamorous, low-tech schemes are being tried
today, and according to the aid groups behind them, all they need to work are political will and
money.
Money?
8
More than $100 million dollars has been spent developing golden rice, and another $50
million has been budgeted for advertisements touting the technology's future benefits. A spokesman
for Syngenta, the company that plans to give golden rice seeds to poor farmers, has said that every
month of delay will mean another 50,000 blind children. Yet how many cases of blindness could be
averted right now if the industry were to divert its river of advertising dollars to a few of these
programs?
9
Which brings us to some uncomfortable questions about the industry's motives. In January,
Gordon Conway, the president of the Rockefeller Foundation - which financed the original research
on golden rice -- wrote, "The public-relations uses of golden rice have gone too far." While genetically
engineered rice has a role to play in combating malnutrition, Conway noted, "We do not consider
golden rice the solution to the vitamin-A deficiency problem."
10
So to what, then, is golden rice the solution? The answer seems plain: To the public-relations
problem of an industry that has so far offered consumers precious few reasons to buy what it's
selling -- and more than a few to avoid it. Appealing to our self-interest won't work, so why not try
pricking our conscience? (Do I hear an echo? Eat your peas -- there are children starving in Africa.)
11
Ordinarily, evaluating a P.R. strategy in terms of morality rather than efficacy would seem to
be missing the point. But morality is precisely the basis on which we've been asked to think about
golden rice. So let us try. Granted, it would be immoral for finicky Americans to thwart a technology
that could rescue malnourished children. But wouldn't it also be immoral for an industry to use those
children's suffering in order to rescue itself? The first case is hypothetical at best. The second is right
there on our television screens, for everyone to see.
1. Which statement best describes the scientific facts of yellow rice?
A. It is rice that has been crossed with the genes of a daffodil to contain more nutrients.
B. It is the answer to a large number of dietary needs in the third world.
C. Westerners uneasiness about genetically modified is unfounded.
D. According to Time magazine, the rice could save a million kids a year.
2. In the title and in the first paragraph, Pollan uses words like hype, audacious,
impale, and dubious to describe the campaign for yellow rice. Which interpretation of
Pollans position do these words support?
a. Pollan is indifferent to the cause of yellow rice.
b. Pollan is an advocate for the biotech companies.

c. Pollan intends to present both sides of the argument without bias.

d. Pollan is an opponent of the campaign for yellow rice.

3. Which paraphrase of evidence from the text best summarizes the stated position of the
biotech firms in this article?
a. Yellow rice will help prevent malnutrition and blindness in third world children.
b. Yellow rice will rescue the biotech industry from negative publicity.
c. Yellow rice requires further study before being made available to the public.
d. Yellow rice can be effective only if children eat it in enormous quantities.

4. In paragraph 1, Pollan describes the advertising campaign used by the biotech industry
to promote yellow rice. Which is the best summary of the way he characterizes their
campaign?
a. People in rich, developed countries dont care about poverty and starvation in the
third world, but they care a lot about genetically modified food.
b. People in the developed world dont care about poverty and starvation in the
third world, but biotech companies are sincerely trying to educating them.
c. People in the developed world feel guilty when they see images of starving
children in the third world, so biotech companies want to use that to their
advantage.
d. People in the developed world cannot be persuaded by emotional appeals, so
biotech is relying on science to convince them.
5. In making his argument, Pollan repeatedly contrasts:

a. biotech companies with rich consumers.

b. biotech companies with third world children.

c. starving children with uncaring consumers.
d. rich consumers with biotech companies.

6. In paragraph 1, Pollan uses the word queasiness. What is the most likely meaning of
this word?
a. acceptance
b. indifference
c. preference
d. discomfort

7. In paragraph 3, Pollan uses the phrase rhetorical technology to describe yellow rice.
What is the best description of what he means by this phrase?
a. Yellow rice helps biotech companies argue for their position more than it
provides something useful.
b. Yellow rice is an extremely important development, similar to the invention of
computers and cell phones.
c. Yellow rice is an important development, but too many people are arguing about
it to notice.
d. Yellow rice is not an important development, but it could be if more people
supported it.

8. Pollan begins his essay by describing a moral dilemma. In the final paragraph he uses
another form of the word moral:
But wouldn't it also be immoral for an industry to use those children's suffering in order to
rescue itself?
Why did he choose to use this form of the word at the end of his essay?

A. It shows that he remains unconvinced about one moral stance over another.
B. He is hesitant to make a final judgment in this case.

C. He wants to show that the moral dilemma he started with cannot be resolved.
D. It shows that he has considered the moral questions and made a clear, final judgment.

9. Which choice best describes how Pollan develops his argument in paragraph 4:
a. He uses the image of a malnourished child to show the necessity of yellow rice.
b. He uses scientific evidence to refute the claims of yellow rices practicality.
c. He establishes his credibility as a scientist with expert knowledge of human
digestion.
d. He shows a deep knowledge of the cultures where yellow rice could be
consumed.
10. Which choice best describes how Pollan furthers his argument in paragraphs 6-7:

a. He shows specific reasons why Asian people wont eat yellow rice.
b. He suggests simple solutions as an alternative to yellow rice.
c. He suggests simple tweaks to the yellow rice campaign to make it more effective.
d. He creates a complex logical argument.

11. Which choice best describes why Pollan saved the information in paragraph 9 as his last
piece of outside evidence?
a. It shows that knowledgeable people who once supported yellow rice now do not.
b. It shows that no one in the biotech industry can be trusted.
c. It destroys the credibility of the man he quotes, Gordon Conway.
d. It shows that the Rockefeller Foundation is only interested in the success of its
investments.
12. In paragraph 3, Pollan writes:
it remains to be seen whether golden rice will ever offer as much to malnourished children
as it does to beleaguered biotech companies.
The word beleaguered means struggling. Why is this word choice an especially effective use of
sarcasm?

A. Pollan has shown that biotech companies are actually very powerful, especially when
compared to malnourished children.
B. Pollan shows that many people distrust biotech companies.
C. This shows his opinion that the biotech companies have to get stronger to help
malnourished children.
D. This is not ironic, because Pollan proves that biotech companies are struggling.

13. In paragraph 4 Pollan writes:

$50 million has been budgeted for advertisements touting the technology's future benefits.
Why is the choice of the word future especially effective for Pollans argument?
A. It shows Pollans belief that yellow rice can be beneficial.
B. It establishes Pollan as an optimistic, likable spokesperson.
C. It shows that yellow rice has yet to produce any benefits.
D. It creates a sense of suspense in the reader about Pollans loyalties.