April 20, 2000 / Nature 404, 799 / SALLY LEHRMANN
SAN FRANCISCO -- Troubled by vandalism at University of California research
sites and elsewhere, a committee of the California state assembly has,
according to this story, approved a bill that would create tough penalties
for the destruction of research crops. The story says that under the
proposed legislation, anyone who uprooted or harmed a crop under study would
be liable for civil penalties of twice the value of the plants --
including testing, research and development costs. Judges could also add on
criminal sanctions. Assemblywoman Helen Thomson (Democrat, Davis) was cited
as introducing the legislation in response to a series of attacks carried
out since last summer by anti-biotech activists. Protesters have destroyed
corn, sugar beet, walnut trees, melons, tomatoes and equipment at sites
belonging to the Davis and Berkeley campuses of the University of
California. Activists have also damaged sunflowers, corn, greenhouses and
irrigation equipment belonging to the commercial companies Pioneer Hi-Bred
and NK Seeds.
(posted without permission)
