● At the Congressional Hunger Center Biotech Briefing in Washington, DC, on June 29, Mae-wan Ho—the Open University lecturer behind the anti-GM “Open Letter from World Scientists to All Governments Concerning Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)”—argued against the need for GM crops for developing countries on the basis that “world population figures have been wildly exaggerated.” She stated that “By mid-1998, the UN's estimate was that world population will peak at 7.7 billion in 2040, then go into long-term decline to 3.6 billion by 2150.” Ho clearly prefers the UN's “low fertility” assumptions whereby global fertility rates are between 1.35 and 1.6 children per woman—rates seen currently in some parts of Eastern and Western Europe (the US rate is 1.99). The UN itself calls its “medium fertility” assumptions “the most likely”: These would lead to a 2050 population of 9.4 billion and a 2150 population of 10.8 billion. High-end UN projects put the 2150 world population at between 18 and 27 billion.

● Under the guise of “restoring confidence in [the] GMO approval process,” on July 13 the European Commission (EC; Brussels, Belgium) announced plans for a strategy to resume the authorization process for GMOs in Europe on the basis of a “reinforced framework for approvals.” That doesn't mean, of course, that authorizations will resume—only the process will, and the hurdles for authorization will be higher. Implicit is that a huge amount of administrative time will be deployed—first at the EC and then within the EU member states—in putting in place the EC's strategy:

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    A comprehensive set of labeling provisions that would cover GMOs and GMO products will be submitted by the EC by autumn 2000. (Subtext: make sure that products such as oils containing no DNA or protein clues as to their GM origins nevertheless have to be nonsensically labeled).

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    An initiative on a traceability system for GMOs to be submitted by the EC by autumn 2000. (Subtext: impose a tax on GM products by insisting on a paper or electronic trail overseen by officials from seed to shopping mall).

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    Accelerate work on environmental liability, long-term effects on biodiversity and international development. (Subtext: ensure that further hurdles remain even after labeling and traceability have been added to the more traditional product requirements of safety and quality).