Patent Ruling Aids Seed Biotech Firms (12/11/2001) In a victory for companies that develop genetically modified
plants, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that seeds and
seed-grown plants can be patented.
Precautionary Principle (12/10/2001) New technologies can bring mankind great benefits, but they can also cause accidental
harm. How careful should society be about introducing innovations that have the potential
to affect human health and the environment? For the last several decades, American society
has been guided by the ‘‘risk analysis’’ model, which assesses new technologies by trying to
calculate the mathematical likelihood that they will harm the public. There are other ways, however,
to think about this problem. Indeed, a rival idea from Europe, the ‘‘precautionary principle‚’’ has
just begun making inroads in America.
Mexico's GM corn find is shock to scientists (12/3/2001) e world's oldest varieties of maize has been "contaminated" by genetically modified
organisms, say US researchers who have had their work confirmed by the Mexican government.
