You're right, Jim. This was worse than a crime; it was a blunder (though it did have comic overtones -- Melchett's run-in with the combative Brothers Brigham seemed like something scripted by the old Ealing Studios).
An example of Greenpeace at its best appears in the Wall Street Journal today: "Gerber Baby Food, Grilled by Greenpeace, Plans Swift Overhaul -- Gene-Modified Corn and Soy Will Go, Although Firm Feels Sure They Are Safe." Greenpeace managed to get Gerber to stop using GM ingredients simply through deft, well targeted correspondence. Melchett clearly pulled off a PR debacle, pressing all the wrong buttons with the public -- affronting sturdy yeomanry like Brighams, with their 300 years of sweat equity at Walnut Tree Farm, yadda-yadda.
I'll add my boilerplate: GM foods, if they are needed, can wait until
after the revolution, when there is no chance that the profit motive
will taint any
> SCIENTIFIC TEST to uncover the side-effects, if any, of GM
> Maize.
Carl