Europe Banishes Altered Foods.

• Author: McNeil, Donald G., Jr.
• Position: Brief Article

In a passionate, ongoing debate over genetically altered foods, environmental advocates in Europe have succeeded in virtually banning the planting or selling of crops the British newspapers have dubbed "Frankenfood."

The focus of widespread protests is a technology that borrows a genetic code from plants or animals and transfers it to a plant, allowing modified seeds, for instance, to produce their own pesticide. In the United States such ingredients are in nearly two thirds of the products on supermarket shelves.

In Europe, however, farmers will not plant the seeds, consumers will not buy the foods, and stores decline to stock them. Many factors are at work...