To Eat or Not to Eat

SALIM HENRY/AP

SLIM PICKINGS: Due to drought, some 2.9 millions Zambians face starvation, but the government rejects genetically modified corn

Sometime in the next few days the United Nations World Food Program will carry out one of its most unusual shipments ever. Under police guard to prevent looting by desperate locals, WFP workers in Zambia will load 18,000 tons of maize into waiting trucks. The trucks, which are normally used to ferry grain to refugee camps or emergency feeding stations, will then carry the precious food out of the drought-stricken southern African country and away from 2.9 million people facing starvation.

This relief effort in reverse follows the Zambian government's decision in August to ban the distribution of...

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