Word: rifkin
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...dustup was stirred by Jeremy Rifkin, a Washington-based gadfly and an implacable foe of genetic engineering (see box), who filed a petition with the USDA demanding suspension of Biologics' license. In issuing that license, Rifkin charged, the department had not only failed to follow federal guidelines for releasing live, genetically altered organisms into the environment but also neglected to conduct an environmental assessment of the risks involved. Stung by the petition and aware of Rifkin's uncanny success in obtaining court injunctions to back his demands, the USDA beat a hasty retreat. Bert Hawkins, administrator of the department...
...Rifkin objected. That the assessment could be done after licensing and in two weeks was "ridiculous," he said. "You can't now put together a hurried little paper and call it an environmental assessment. That's what you call cheating...
...Rifkin's victory, however temporary, was still more bad news for the biotechnology industry, which has been stymied in its efforts to field test and market agricultural products containing genetically engineered live organisms. The defeats have been caused by a maze of confusing Government regulations, harassing legal actions and in some cases the industry's own blunders. Only last month, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency fined Advanced Genetic Sciences $20,000 and suspended its permit to field test a preparation called Frostban, which contains re-engineered bacteria designed to retard the formation of frost on plants. The agency charged...
Interestingly, the man who organized last week's appeal is neither a theologian nor a scientist. He is Jeremy Rifkin, 38, a Reform Jew and a writer on economic and social issues, who warns that the world's economic systems must be transformed in anticipation of a drastic shortage of resources. Rifkin's most recent book, titled Algeny (Viking; $14.75), not only protests against human engineering but virtually all genetic tinkering with plant and animal species. Genetic engineering, says Rifkin, is "ecological roulette: any mistake will be irretrievable...
...terminal," says Veteran Hacker Rudy Nedved, 23, "and suddenly he gets this 'Oops, what happened?' look on his face." Such techniques are sometimes used later in life to write popular computer games-or pull off staggeringly large computer frauds. (Computer Whiz Stanley Mark Rifkin, who was a hacker at California State University Northridge, used his software expertise to steal $10.2 million from California's Security Pacific National Bank...