In Europe, people and governments remain in a rage against hormonal U.S. beef.
Biotechnology is under attack, with little evidence that it has done anything wrong.
Indeed, it is doing just the opposite. The only problem is that much of the rest of the world is growing resistant, with an assortment of critics playing on people's natural fear of the unfamiliar. But many of the attacks on the products of modern biotechnology amount to either blatant protectionism or anti-science blindness. Indeed, there are no means of detecting differences between European and American beef, other than U.S. beef tends to be tenderer because its cattle are slaughtered young. The Clinton administration last week even offered to voluntarily label U.S. beef by origin, something trade agreements don't require, but Europe prefers to protect its farmers rather than give consumers choice.