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Welcome to
REASON Express, the weekly e-newsletter from REASON magazine.
REASON Express is written by Washington-based journalist Jeff A. Taylor
and draws on the ideas and resources of the REASON editorial staff. For
more
information on REASON, visit our Web site at www.reason.com.
Send your comments about REASON Express to Jeff A. Taylor (jtaylor@reason.com)
and
REASON Editor-in-Chief Nick Gillespie (gillespie@reason.com).
REASON Express
June 19, 2001
Vol. 4 No. 25
1.. GM Corn Gets Passing Grade in Illness Scare
2.. Surprise: Local Banks Get Assist from Local Lawmakers
3.. The Clintons Find Another Community to Embrace--and Fleece
4.. Quick Hits
- - Corny Ending - -
Yet another media feeding frenzy ends with a nary a burp. Genetically
modified StarLink corn, reported to contain "contaminated"
material that supposedly would cause adverse reactions in humans, turns
out to be nothing
to worry about.
Or so say the professional worriers at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. A CDC study released last week found that StarLink did not
cause the allergic reaction that 17 people reported after the story broke.
"Although the study participants may have experienced allergic
reactions," said the CDC, "we cannot conclude that a reported
illness was [a StarLink-related] allergic reaction."
Currently, StarLink is approved only for use in animal feed. It contains a
protein that has been added to give it extra resistance to insects. Last
fall, the big fear was that those processing plants that handled
non-modified
corn as well as StarLink would impart traces of the latter to such human
foodstuffs as taco shells.
Product recalls quickly followed, and as surely as night follows day, some
people said the recalled stuff must be responsible for some illness they
suffered.
But the CDC blood tests did not find antibodies to the protein in StarLink,
a traditional measure of allergic reaction. The threat of such reactions
is cited as a major reason that modified foods are dangerous.
The StarLink episode also shows that facts will be of little use in
swaying those opposed to genetic modification of foodstuffs. Anti-biotech
groups have already said the CDC study proves nothing and, sadly, even the
people who participated in the test are not convinced.
Grace Booth, for example, still blames her anaphylactic shock on a
StarLink-related enchilada.
"Everything else I ate in the 72 hours before I got so sick, I've
eaten again with no problem," she said. "Frankly, I don't trust
the tests."
It is that kind of thinking, along with the dedicated lobbying and media
manipulation by the anti-biotech crowd, that now confronts the
Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA will decide whether StarLink
should be approved for human consumption.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6289
0-2001Jun13.html
Ron Bailey notes that, contrary to the doomsayer storyline, humans rarely
rush to adopt new technologies, at http://www.reason.com/rb/rb052301.html
*******************************************
- - Bank Branching - -
It happens everyday. Some government unit acts to favor one business
competitor over another. But rarely is the action so brazen as the North
Carolina legislature's recent move to favor homegrown banks.
Charlotte's First Union wants to buy Winston-Salem's Wachovia for $13.4
billion. Standing in its way is Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks, which has
offered $13.5 billion. SunTrust had negotiated with Wachovia for some time
about a merger, but no agreement was reached. Then, several months ago,
First
Union announced it had a deal with Wachovia.
SunTrust responded with its own hostile offer to buy Wachovia against the
will of Wachovia executives. But final say would rest with the latter's
shareholders. That's where the politicians come in.
In a 111-to-1 vote, the state House approved a change in the state's
incorporation laws that would make it much harder for SunTrust to buy
Wachovia. The change was sought by the First Union/Wachovia team in direct
response to a SunTrust move to win approval for the terms of its offer.
SunTrust proposed that Wachovia shareholders change Wachovia's bylaws to
allow a special meeting should the First Union-Wachovia deal be voted
down. At that meeting, members would be added to Wachovia's board of
directors who back SunTrust's bid.
Current state law allows shareholders of a public company to call such
meetings by changing either a company's articles of incorporation or its
bylaws. But the new legislation would strike "or bylaws" from
the statute,
leaving only a change to a company's articles of incorporation as a route
to calling a meeting. And changing articles of incorporation is much
harder to do.
The net effect is that Tarheel State lawmakers are saying they do not
trust shareholders to make decisions in their own best interests. Less
politely, one might speculate that they are firmly in the pockets of local
bank lobbyists.
http://www.charlotte.com/0614wachovia.htm
*********************************************
- - Curried Favor - -
The Clintons' firmly established reputation for hanging out with shady
characters shows no sign of fading. Former President Bill Clinton found
himself attending the same fund-raiser as a man wanted on fraud charges in
India.
Of course, Clinton denied knowing anything about the charges against Sant
Singh Chatwal, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in India. Indian
authorities have charged him with making off with $9 million that a
state-run bank loaned him in 1994.
Chatwal accompanied Clinton on an earthquake relief tour of India in
April, during which Indian newspapers reported that authorities were
seeking him. He also escorted Clinton and daughter Chelsea on a state
visit to India in March 2000.
Now Chatwal, operator of the Bombay Palace restaurants and the Hampshire
Hotels chain, has moved on to supporting Hillary Clinton. Some $210,000 in
contributions to her Senate campaign reportedly originate with him.
It is doubtful that the Clintons actively seek out such relationships. But
the burden of their past conduct, a wink-and-a-nod toward the rule of law,
will always attract those looking to short-circuit justice.
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-06-13/News_and_V
iews/City_Beat/a-114754.asp
*******************************************
QUICK HITS
- - Quote of the Week - -
"As we said before, and will say again, it is better to report many
legitimate transactions that seem suspicious than let one illegal one slip
through." - - a U.S. Postal Service training video for postal clerks
advising
them to report "suspicious" cash transactions to a federal task
force on money laundering. The "Under the Eagle's Eye" program
further explains that if a transaction "seems suspicious to you, then
it is suspicious."
http://www.insightmag.com/archive/200107033.shtml
- - Tax and Spin - -
Britain's version of the IRS--the Inland Revenue--has hired an advertising
firm to improve the image of the tax collector. M&C Saatchi, along
with branding consultant Corporate Edge, will work to develop a "high
quality
public service."
http://news.excite.com/news/r/010615/07/odd-tax-dc
- - Comp Time - -
Last week marked the 50th birthday of UNIVAC, the first computer. It cost
over $1 million to build and weighed eight tons.
http://www.nando.net/technology/story/26868p-47854
9c.html
- - State Your Business - -
The Senate thinks it has an agreement by which states would agree to
simplify their sales and use taxes in exchange for being able to collect
from out-of-state merchants who sell via the Internet or catalogs.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/washphoto.htm
- - Runny Regs - -
The Food and Drug Administration beginning Sept. 4 will require egg
cartons to warn that egg yolks that are not cooked until firm run the risk
of spreading salmonella. Food industry spokesmen note that, given that
only one
out of every 20,000 eggs is contaminated, consumers can go 80 years
between bad eggs.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20010614-230240
98.htm
- - Sen. Duh - -
The new chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.)
calls free trade "an oxymoron" and wants to give tax credits to
builders of broadband in "rural areas."
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/hollin06
1101.htm
############################################
REASON NEWS
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