More than 100 Nobel Laureates issue statement in support of modern agriculture practices and open letter condemning certain NGOs and governments for thwarting life-saving progress

(Washington, DC) More than 100 Nobel Laureates from diverse disciplines are voicing their support for GMO precision agriculture and calling on leaders of Greenpeace, the United Nations and governments around the world to join them.  The Laureates — winners in fields including Medicine, Economics, Physics, Chemistry, Literature and Peace — have all signed an open letter asking Greenpeace and others who have been blocking progress and access to beneficial plant biotechnology products, like Golden Rice, to abandon their campaigns against GMOs.

The campaign was announced on Thursday June 30th at a Washington, DC press conference by representative signers Sir Richard Roberts (1993 Nobel Laureate for Physiology or Medicine), Professor Martin Chalfie (2008 Nobel Laureate for Chemistry) and Professor Randy Schekman (2013 Nobel Laureate for Physiology or Medicine).   A website http://supportprecisionagriculture.org/ offers details on the Nobel Laureates’ statement, list of signers and background on the benefits and safety of GMOs.

At the Washington press conference, Laureate Sir Richard Roberts stated, “In our letter we call upon Greenpeace and like organizations to end their shameful campaign of propaganda and criminal destruction of crops improved by modern genetic technologies, such as GMOs.”  Roberts, added, “We call on governments and world organizations to do everything in their power to oppose anti-GMO obstruction and to accelerate farmer access to the life-saving tools provided by modern biotechnology.”

The Laureates urged policy makers, the public and others to come together and add their names to the list of signers and asked how many poor people in the world must die before we consider this a “crime against humanity.”