Blocking a Nicer Rice?

Vitamin A deficiency is estimated to affect some 250 million children in poorer countries. The condition is rare in the developed world as many foods contain this fat-soluble material. One potential aid was to develop a genetically modified form of rice with a gene producing beta carotene which can be used as a building block for the vitamin. Because of its colour, this has been termed 'Golden rice'. There are claims that ecological organisations have blocked the release of this GMO largely because it has been produced by genetic engineering (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/26/gm-golden-rice-delay-cost-millions-of-lives-child-blindness), resulting in many deaths and cases of blindness (especially night blindness) in children. This is somewhat surprising as people seem very accepting of GMOs to produce human insulin and growth hormone for medical applications.