Tuesday, June 2, 1998
Community Briefs
Indonesian riots worry students
As Indonesian students battle riot police in their country’s
struggle to end the reign of President Suharto, their peers at San
Francisco State worry that the bloody clash for reform will shatter
their academic careers.
Indonesia, and in particular the capital Jakarta, has seen days
of violent rioting which has left hundreds of people dead and
houses and factories burned. The cause of the turmoil is Suharto’s
refusal to step down from the presidency after 32 years of leading
the nation of 210 million in Southeast Asia.
"I am extremely worried. I call my parents every day to make
sure they are OK. Already, my brother’s factory and my cousin’s
house have been burned down," said Iskandar Effendy, an Indonesian
student at SF State.
A widespread opposition movement charges Suharto with having
brought the country close to economic collapse and alienating the
international community. He has stubbornly refused to liberalize
Indonesia’s economy despite pressure from the International
Monetary Fund. The IMF has issued loans to the country in the past
because it was one of the hardest hit by the Asian financial
crisis.
And while the Indonesian drama unfolds daily on television
screens around the world, its ripples have upset many international
students from Indonesia at SF State.
Currently, about 160 international students from Indonesia are
enrolled at SF State and many of them are gravely concerned about
the events in their country, according to Jay Ward, coordinator of
International Student Services.
Group sues FDA over engineered foods
Sifting through rows of corn or piles of potatoes at the grocery
store, consumers might never expect the produce they peruse to
contain scorpion venom or chicken genes.
But it often does, thanks to the accelerating biotech industry,
which commonly cross-breeds species to produce more desirable
characteristics in crops.
Some scientists say the food industry plays Russian roulette
with consumers’ health when they introduce alternate genes into
whole foods.
As of now, these enhanced fruits and vegetables sell alongside
naturally grown foods, the difference not apparent to buyers.
But University of Minnesota ecology professor Dr. Philip Regal
wants consumers to know exactly what science is doing to the food
supply. Regal, an expert consultant on biological industry
practices, signed on as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against
the Food and Drug Administration’s policy that lets enhanced foods
go unchecked and unlabeled.
"I’m not against genetically engineered plants," Regal said.
"I’m against people not knowing what they’re eating."
Filed Wednesday, the complaint demands the FDA carefully
regulate genetic engineering methods, while requiring food labels
that expose the methods to consumers. The FDA deems the practice
unnecessary; food industry officials call it "turning back the
clock" on important technological advancements.
The International Center for Technology Assessment, a national,
non-profit organization, rounded up a coalition of more than 20
scientists, religious leaders, health professionals, consumers and
chefs to support the suit.
"We thought it would be important for the judge to see how
serious we are about this," said Andrew Kimbrell, lead attorney for
the coalition. "This is a very important step, and a very
courageous one."
More than five years of petitioning and making recommendations
did nothing to change the FDA’s stance on the issue, Kimbrell said,
adding that bringing a lawsuit to change a policy is not
unusual.
Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports.