Sources Review.

Rating System of Sources 

Bias                                                 1-5           Very Biased                   - 1     Impartial                       - 5               
Clarity of Information/Arguments    1-5           Vague and ambiguous     - 1    Clear and consequential - 5 
Credibility                                       1-5           Unreliable                       - 1    Authoritative                  - 5 

Golden Rice Humanitarian Board

Bias         - 1      Clarity      - 4      Credibility - 4


The Golden Rice Humanitarian Board, the official website of the Golden Rice project is understandably biased towards the the proliferation of Golden Rice, sometimes presenting facts dubiously, such as the claim of satisfying the RDA of Vitamin A for Children with 100-200 grams of Golden Rice, in my calculations, under the best conditions, using the best experimental strain, not the production strain, the minimum amount of rice to satisfy the RDA for children is approx. 135 grams, this strain has not undergone extensive testing, and losses through cooking and growth using sunlight rather than artificial light. Also, the website uses colloquialism, such as referring the Vitamin A deficiency to a nutritional Holocaust and referring to critics of the program as technophobes. However, the authors of the site are knowledgeable experts in their field. Including the co-creators of Golden Rice including Ingo Potrykus.

Greenpeace

Bias         - 1      Clarity      - 5      Credibility - 3.5


Greenpeace has always been against GM crop in their position as a environmentalist group, their viewpoint is quite obviously biased. However, their point is conveyed clearly to their target audience. Their credibility is decent, with even Ingo Potrykus admitting that Greenpeace's arguments in a 2001 article regarding the amount of beta-carotene present is rational and valid. It is interesting to note that Greenpeace once advocated Palm Oil as a source of Vitamin A.

Weale, Albert - Cosmos Magazine

Bias         - 5      Clarity      - 5      Credibility - 4

Albert Weale of Cosmos Magazine is very fair to both sides of the GM crops argument. He avoids generalizer, asking the reader to consider different GM crops individually. The article is presented well, with clear and concise language familiar to the layman while putting his ideas across. However, dispite the author's lack of background in science, he is a professor of Government at the University of Essex and has written about Bioethics.

The Institute of Science in Society

Bias         - 3      Clarity      - 4      Credibility - 3.5

The I-SIS is an orgnisation of scientists promoting sustainable science, they hold a very Laissez-faire view to science witth an anti-GM view. They produce papers for peer reviewed journals. The article on Golden Rice is clear, understandable and well cross-referenced. Members of the organisation include respected scientists. However, it is not clear who the author of the article pertaining to Golden Rice is.