COVID-19 has caused untold suffering throughout the world, but particularly in developing countries. So why is Greenpeace continuing a yearslong campaign against a food product that could deliver dramatic health benefits to children in some of the poorest parts of the world?

That’s the question we’ve been asked several times since the group recently announced its opposition to a decision by regulators in the Philippines to approve a permit for farmers to grow a breed of rice that’s fortified with vitamin A. The battle is emblematic of the way in which baseless fears about technology are used as a cudgel to deny people — most of them poor — opportunities to realize better health and higher living standards.