Over the next few years, the biotechnology industry will dump hundreds of thousands of genetically engineered plants and animals into the environment. It's time for an immediate moratorium on this practice. Decades of chemical pollution have left us with such hazards as global warming, the ozone hole, and toxic waste.
Genes carry the codes that shape future generations.
When such bizarre creations as pigs and fish with human genes, tomatoes with flounder genes, and corn with virus genes are released into the wild, our genetic inheritance itself is altered. The damage may never be undone. That's what makes genetic pollution even more dangerous than chemical pollution. Chemicals will dilute over time or can be contained. But genetically engineered life forms can multiply, mutate, and spread worldwide.