BBC World Service. This is Helena Merriman with the inquiry.

This week is opposition to genetically modified crops irrational.

On Sunday the 23rd of May, hundreds of activists dressed in red streamed into the capital of Burkina Faso.

Their placards and chants had one message.

Yes to health, no to Monsanto.

They weren't the only ones protesting that day. Halfway across the world, activists in

Paris were gathering too, as well as Strasbourg, Los Angeles, Santiago, and hundreds of

other cities, all marching against Monsanto.

As the largest producer of genetically engineered seed,

it's become synonymous with GM.

Ask a scientist. it's become synonymous with GM.

Ask a scientist though, and the majority will tell you that GM food is safe to eat.

The Pugh Foundation released a recent poll which found that almost 90% of scientists from America's largest science body think GM food is generally safe,

while only 37% of the public agree. That's scientists, 90%, the public, 37%. That means

that GM is now the issue on which American scientists and the general public are most divided,

more so than climate change or vaccines.

It's why some scientists now describe opposition to GM as irrational.

And in this week's inquiry, we want to know if they're right.

Is opposition to GM crops irrational.

Part 1, the streams. I don't think we caught too many fish, but I became very, very excited about plant biology and ultimately plant genetics.

Meet Pam Ronald, the wild child of the mountains who's now director of the lab for crop genetics innovation at the University of California Davis.

She's won an award for her team's work. at the University of California, Davis.

...