Proposed agbiotech promotion

Senator John Ashcroft has introduced legislation that would give the U.S. State Department $6 million to spend over two years to promote agricultural biotechnology to developing countries. According to the "Advancing the Global Opportunities for Biotechnology in Agriculture Act of 2000," ensuring that the benefits of agricultural biotechnology and "the underlying scientific information and the regulatory framework for managing this technology are shared globally is imperative and should be an integral part of United States foreign assistance programs."

The bill would pay for government officials from developing countries to visit the U.S. and vice versa for briefings about the safety, benefits and regulation of agricultural biotechnology. ...