The guest speaker shook his head and sighed into the microphone. “Like I said, some of the things we do in genetic research are misunderstood. Some, like our friends in the back of the room, assert that the work I’m doing is giving people cancer. Sadly, they probably believe it. But if I can ask everyone in this room for one favor, it would be this: never get caught up in popular rhetoric. Don’t take what others say as gospel. Even the things I say should be questioned. Always do your own research before forming an opinion.”

Something about this man struck Kathy as oddly familiar. He was young, thirties, possibly Hispanic. And he held a mournful expression that somehow made her feel sorry for him.

“That said, since the issue has been raised, let me address this cancer claim. Frankly it’s laughable. In fact, I am an oncologist—a cancer doctor—and the goal of my research has always been, ultimately, to treat cancer in humans. As to the accusation that I am a monopolist, I’ll admit that AgriMed, the company I work for, is a large corporation. There’s no denying that. But we’re hardly a monopoly. Moreover, I find the accusation ironic. Google serves up nearly ninety percent of all Internet searches and Android is the operating system on almost ninety percent of all smartphones, yet I don’t hear people protesting against them for having a very popular product that people want to use.”

The room was getting warm. With the air conditioner clearly struggling with the number of bodies in the room, Kathy gathered her hair and tucked it under her baseball cap to keep it off her neck.

“And finally, let me try to dispel the boogieman that is GMO.

“We in the research field don’t purposefully invent things to cause harm to anyone. We’re usually investigating a problem that affects people, and we’re all trying to come up with the best solution.

“For instance, there’s been ongoing research trying to solve the vitamin A deficiency that is an epidemic in some parts of the world. In 2005, 190 million children and 19 million pregnant women in 122 countries were estimated to be affected by vitamin A deficiency.

“Many of you may not realize it, but this form of vitamin deficiency is a serious issue that’s responsible for 1 to 2 million deaths and 500,000 cases of irreversible blindness each and every year.