Authorities are investigating the vandalism. You Monsanto announced yesterday that it will restrict sales next year of one variety of genetically modified corn and delay until 2002 the introduction of another in order to avoid disrupting U.S. grain exports. American corns sales to Japan and other countries have fallen markedly this fall after the StarLink biotech corn variety, which was not approved for human consumption, was found to have made its way into the food stream. Monsanto also pledged yesterday to be more open about its biotechnology endeavors and to engage in dialogue with its critics. But biotech critic Jeremy Rifkin said the company was still missing the point.
Genetic engineering creates some serious potential environmental and health problems.
The treaty would likely exempt some countries from some restrictions until replacement chemicals are found, especially for DDT, which is used widely in Africa to control malaria. Enviros criticize the treaty talks for focusing on only 12 POPs when there may be tens of thousands in production. We are being killed by our own ignorance. A cold snap and resulting power-line failures forced the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine to shut down yesterday, three weeks before it is due to be closed for good. While there were no reported radiation leaks, operators are considering simply keeping the plant turned off from here on out, rather than powering it up for the few days before the plant's permanent closure.