Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University, argued that the campaign against modern agricultural technology, most specifically the creation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), is the kind of foolishness that rich societies can afford to indulge."
In an Opinion piece for The New York Times, Daniels wrote: "Given the emphatic or, as some like to say, “settled” nature of the science, one would expect a united effort to spread these life-saving, planet-sparing technologies as fast as possible to the poorer nations who will need them so urgently. Instead, we hear demands that developing countries forgo the products that offer them the best hope of joining the well-fed, affluent world."
Daniels added that the argument must be moved to a new plane.
"For the rich and well-fed to deny Africans, Asians or South Americans the benefits of modern technology is not merely anti-scientific. It’s cruel, it’s heartless, it’s inhumane — and it ought to be confronted on moral grounds that ordinary citizens, including those who have been conned into preferring non-GMO Cheerios, can understand."