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Seeds of Doubt
(Friday, June 11, 2004 -- CropChoice news) -- Sacramento Bee special series on agricultural biotechnology: Much has been written about biotechnology's hope - to feed the hungry, to limit pesticides - and much has been written about its hazards. The Bee spent eight months investigating this new green revolution. What we found was propaganda where there should be probing; superficial talk where there should be deeper truths. We hope you will find some of those truths over the next five days, when we take you from the deserts of Africa to the labs and fields of California, the Midwest and Mexico. Rick Rodriguez, Executive Editor Part one: EREDJI MOLLA, MALI -- Overhead, the sun hangs like a heat lamp, searing an African landscape the color of toast. Patches of sandy soil that yielded green shoots of millet and wild rice last fall now swirl with dust... http://www.sacbee.com/static/live/news/projects/biotech/c1_1.html Part Two: Globe-trotting genes CAPULÁLPAM, MEXICO - Working the rutted rows of their hillside garden in 1997, Alberto Cortes and his wife, Olga Toro Maldonado, noticed something unusual. The maize was like steel. It shot up strong and thick. Bugs didn't hurt it. Drought didn't wilt it. Growing alongside scrawny stalks of traditional Mexican maize, the new variety was a bulked-up, botanical stranger - maize on steroids... http://www.sacbee.com/static/live/news/projects/biotech/c2_1.html Part Three: Biotech industry funds bumper crop of UC Davis research Last August, a promising new report about genetically modified corn flickered across a Web site sponsored by the corn's corporate creator, the biotechnology giant Monsanto Co.... http://www.sacbee.com/static/live/news/projects/biotech/c3_1.html Part Four: Scattered efforts Dig deep into state files to see just how closely genetically modified agriculture is regulated in California and you'll find an unsettling memo, part of a federal sign-off that is supposed to occur a week before some experimental crops are planted. The memo is dated April 24, 2001 - five days after insect-resistant corn was planted on about 8 acres near Woodland. “The weather was right, so we put it in the ground,” seed giant Pioneer Hi-Bred informed government regulators. No federal fine followed. No state alarm sounded... http://www.sacbee.com/static/live/news/projects/biotech/c4_1.html Part Five: Grocery quandary Grocery shopping was going smoothly until Lori Brennan stopped for soy milk. Studying the shelves at a natural foods market in Grass Valley this spring, Brennan found her options mind-boggling. Some of the drinks carried the organic seal, some did not. All but one new variety were sweetened. A brand on sale caught Brennan's interest, but it bothered her that the package said nothing about whether the soy was genetically modified... http://www.sacbee.com/static/live/news/projects/biotech/c5_1.html Main page for all of the series: http://www.sacbee.com/static/live/news/projects/biotech/ |