Word: tobacco
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...States Target Tobacco...
...matching bits of DNA -- cutting a gene from one kind of organism and pasting it into another -- they hoped to make new, improved plants and animals. Over the years they've put corn genes in rice, trout genes in catfish, chicken genes in potatoes, even firefly genes in tobacco (yielding a plant that actually glowed in the dark). A few years ago, Department of Agriculture researchers tried to produce leaner pork by splicing a human gene into a pig embryo. What they got was a cross-eyed porker with crippling arthritis and a strangely wrinkled face...
...seems in Washington you just can't count on anything. All of these votes came in the face of sturdy opposition from lobbying groups. The tobacco industry, for example, spent between $2 million and $3 million dollars in the last national elections. Nevertheless, legislators clearly spent more time listening to public opinion polls than to high-paid lobbyists...
Moreover, Bill and Hillary Clinton sent a message to America when they banned smoking from the White House. And while Clinton has yet to make anti-smoking regulations his priority, his decision to use cigarette taxes to help finance health care was a clear blow to the tobacco industry...
...tobacco and gun lobbies are down, but hardly out. The Smoke Free Environment Act for instance, still faces tough opposition in Congress. Just because tobacco executives wheeze before a Congressional subcommittee doesn't mean the bill will become law to the land...