The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, August 22 - Unauthorized ...

It Isn't Easy Being Green
• Killers Among Us
• Camping Lessons
• It Isn't Easy Being Green
• Unreal Estate
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW
SALIENT FACTS
It Isn't Easy Being Green
• The Slacker Temp
• Plainspeak
• What They Were Thinking
With new genetically modified crops, agribusiness is positioning
itself as nature's very best friend. Where does that leave
environmentalists? By GREG DICUM
WHAT'S NEW DOWN ON THE FARM?
Ever since high-tech agribusiness
started tinkering with the DNA of
crops, genetically modified foods have
been a battleground for
environmentalists (who have called
them "frankenfoods"). Americans can
buy genetically modified corn,
potatoes and papayas, though in
Europe, groups like Greenpeace have
blocked the importation of some
altered produce. But with the latest
innovations, producers are betting
Wheat: Corbis. Strawberry: Michelle
Garrett/Corbis. Fish: Douglas Peebles/Corbis.
they can beat the greens at their own game, casting their test-tube advances as the
environment's last, best hope.
TO MAKE PRETTIER PRODUCE?
Like all genetic modifications, these crops are created by either fiddling with a
http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/19990822mag-food-science.html (1 of 3) [8/22/1999 9:15:01 PM]
White Oleander
by Janet Fitch
The Testament
by John Grisham
Business @ the Speed of
Thought
by Bill Gates
Don't Sweat the Small Stuff
by Richard Carlson, Ph.D.