Rifkin Strikes Out

Jeremy Rifkin, who has single-handedly and single-mindedly waged war against biotechnology, has used the courts in the past to block important research and experimentation in genetic engineering. Fortunately, his luck seems to have run out. A few weeks ago U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell in Washington dismissed two of Rifkin’s suits against biotechnology and cleared the way for this work to proceed.

Rifkin had sought to overturn the Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology that the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy had issued last June. He had also tried to force the Environmental Protection Agency to require that companies seeking to release genetically engineered organisms into the environment show that they had enough money to pay for any potential damage that might result.

Gesell wisely threw out both suits on the ground that they involved only hypothetical injuries. In fact, as the judge obviously understood, the injuries are not only hypothetical, they are extremely unlikely to occur--so unlikely that they cannot be the basis for halting research of potentially great benefit to humanity.

By regulating biotechnology the federal government is taking appropriate notice of the need to keep an eye on what’s occurring in this field. But the goal is to encourage this work rather than to stifle it. The federal courts have now recognized that Rifkin’s arguments are specious and harmful. Federal agencies involved with this research may now move ahead to implementing the framework for regulation, and experimenters can feel confident that this source of opposition has been quelled.

Society needs the benefits that genetic engineering can deliver, and Rifkin needs to find a new hobbyhorse to ride--preferably in an area where he knows what he’s talking about.