If chief execs of leading U.S. agri-biotech companies had heartburn last week, it wasn't because of anything they ate. Rather, it was that long-simmering European anxieties over genetically modified (g.m.) crops, like an ocean-hopping virus, had finally spread to the U.S.
In Battle Creek, Mich., Greenpeace invaded cereal maker Kellogg's headquarters, calling its use of genetically engineered grains a "monstrous experiment." One of the Greenpeaceniks even dressed as Kellogg's trademark Tony the Tiger, renamed FrankenTony--after what British tabloids call "Frankenfoods."
In Chicago the Food and Drug Administration, acknowledging growing public concern, held the first of three public forums on g.m. foods....
