Will genetic crops rescue Mother Earth?

I'm not a big fan of those (mostly on the left) who want to ban all genetically modified foods, as this previous post (Biotech is not the enemy) attests.

Now comes this item in today's NY Times:

Frankenfoods to the Rescue Of Mother Earth

Here's something for the Greens of the world to ponder: "genetic engineering may be the most environmentally beneficial technology to have emerged in decades, or possibly centuries," Jonathan Rauch writes in The Atlantic Monthly. So-called "transgenic crops" ó soybeans crossbred with genes that tolerate herbicides, for example ó have enabled farmers to vastly increase yields while eliminating the need for ploughing, which leaches the soil of nutrients and promotes erosion and runoff. Ploughless farming, because it requires no fuel, also saves money and reduces pollution.

While citing the substantial risks involved in creating transgenic plants, the article notes other benefits of bioengineered crops: transgenic cotton, for instance, which makes its own pesticide courtesy of a toxin-producing gene, and engineered rootworm-resistant corn have enormous potential to reduce pesticide use. And other crops are being developed to tolerate soil contaminants like aluminum, a big problem in the tropics.

Noting that "world food output will need to at least double and possibly triple over the next several decades," the author argues that "the great challenge" is "not to feed an additional three billion people (and their pets) but to do so without converting much of the world's prime habitat into second- or third-rate farmland."

As a result, "if properly developed, disseminated and used, genetically modified crops may be the best hope the planet has got."

Here's Rauch's full piece in the October Atlantic Monthly: Will Frankenfood Save the Planet? Over the next half century genetic engineering could feed humanity and solve a raft of environmental illsóif only environmentalists would let it.

By the way, with all this talk about Frankenfood, think Al Franken has a legal claim here?

Hitler at home and other Internet adventures

The Sunday New York Times carried an interesting article about the power of the Internet as a distribution medium, even against the powers of copyright interests. Case in point: A 1938 article in Homes & Gardens, a British magazine, that featured Hitler's mountain retreat in the Bavarian Alps. It showed up on the Net, despite protests from the magazine.

Excerpt:

The episode is an object lesson in the topsy-turvy world of copyright and "fair use" ó an area made far murkier by the distributive power of the Internet and the subsequent crisscrossing of international legal codes. In the United States, the posting would most likely be considered fair use, said Wendy Seltzer, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. "Reprinting the article now, 65 years after its original publication, strikes me as more like reporting or commenting on a news story, or fair use, than photocopying a current scientific article to save the cost of buying more magazines," she said.

Also from the Times: Students Shall Not Download. Yeah, Sure.

And this, appearing Monday in the Times, which has suddenly discovered IP issues: Music's Struggle With Technology. The current fight over file-trading technology resembles a grand battle in the 1990's over encryption technology.

Think Debate on Music Property Rights Began With Napster? Hardly. The music industry has grappled with the uncertainties wrought by new technologies for over a century.

Turn On. Tune In. Download.

Slate's Rob Walker in the Sunday NY Times Magazine: Turn On. Tune In. Download.

Cronkite likens Ashcroft to Torquemada

Walter Cronkite op-ed piece: U.S. battles terror with a touch of the Spanish Inquisition.

In his 2 1/2 years in office, Attorney General John Ashcroft has earned himself a remarkable distinction as the Torquemada of American law.

Tomas de Torquemada, you might recall, was the 15th-century Dominican friar who became the grand inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. He was largely responsible for its methods, including torture and the burning of heretics -- Muslims in particular.