Marketplace: News Archives

Monday, September 18, 2000
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It's Monday, the 18th of September. I'm David Brancaccio.

The sometimes-abstract debate over genetically modified food is taking on the very specific shape of a taco shell. The Food and Drug Administration today says it's investigating claims that taco shells sold in grocery stores under the Taco Bell label were made with a kind of genetically-modified corn fit for cows but not people. Groups opposed to genetically altered food say tests of the taco shells found evidence of a type of corn called StarLink, a genetically-altered grain approved only for feeding livestock. Marketplace's Sarah Gardner reports.

Gardner: "The coalition includes such well-known groups as Friends of the Earth and the Center for Food Safety. Today they said they'd found evidence that Taco Bell brand taco shells contained one-percent Starlink corn. That's a type of genetically engineered corn made by the Aventis Corporation that has not been approved for human consumption. That's because there's concern that Starlink could cause allergies. At a news conference today, coalition supporters said the FDA and the biotech industry had failed the American public. Joseph Mendelson, legal director for the Center for Food Safety, called on the FDA and the EPA to take their results seriously."

Mendelson: "We are asking them to initiate their voluntary recall procedures, in which they contact companies, in particular, Taco Bell or Tricon, which is the parent of Taco Bell, and Kraft Foods, and ask those companies to begin a recall procedure for the product before you."

Gardner: "Kraft Foods, which distributes the taco shells, said they bought the corn from a miller in Texas, who bought the corn from farmers in six different states. A spokesman called the issue 'serious' and said Kraft was trying to independently confirm whether or not the illegal corn is in its product. Biotech advocates, however, questioned the test results, saying it's easy to get a false positive on this kind of testing. Lisa Dry of the Biotechnology Industry Organization called releasing these test results announcement 'premature'."

Dry: "You don't want to go out there are cry fire in a crowded theater and cause panic. You want to get a second opinion on information like this before you do anything rash."

Gardner: "A spokesman for the Iowa company that tested the taco shells said the firm stands by its results. What's not clear is whether eating a taco shell with one-percent of this type of corn is a serious health threat. Coalition members said so far they have no reports of allergic reaction to the product but that they had only recently discovered the problem. I'm Sarah Gardner for Marketplace."

In what is being hailed as a breakthrough, researchers say they've developed the first vaccine that protects against genital herpes. But there's a catch. From the Marketplace Health Desk, Helen Palmer reports.

Palmer: "The catch is this. The new vaccine only seems to work for women, a fact that Dr. Moncef Sloui of Smith Kline Beecham's vaccine center in Belgium where it was developed calls scientifically fascinating and unexplained. They're working on it, he says, but they're not too hopeful."

Sloui: "It may be a difficult objective to make it work as efficiently in males as in females."

Palmer: "Another problem the researchers found: it doesn't work even for women who've had cold sores, which are caused by a different, but closely related virus. The vaccine will need years of clinical trials before it could win approval, but if trials are successful, the company hopes to be able to develop a vaccine to be given routinely to girls in early adolescence. But Chase H&Q drug analyst Corey Davis doesn't see such a vaccine as any kind of blockbuster new development for Smith Kline."

Davis: "For patients and physicians who have to treat this, it's an important drug, but as far as a big impact on SKB's bottom line, I'd say probably not. It'll be a nice little vaccine for them but not have a huge impact."

Palmer: "It will, though, be good for the company's public image. The Centers for Disease Control reckons some 45 million of Americans are infected with the herpes virus. CDC researchers say it's controllable, but incurable and a vaccine that would prevent girls from getting it or giving to their partners would be a boon to millions. From the health desk at WGBH Boston, I'm Helen Palmer for Marketplace."

It's getting to be a recurring headline: rising oil prices reached another ten-year peak today, with U.S. light crude futures coming within a few cents of $37 per barrel on a rise of 96 cents. These rising prices, a heating oil shortage, plus the possibility of double-digit percentage increases in electric bills have New Englanders, in particular, worried about weathering the winter to come. But some have decided to go 'back-to-the-future'. Vermont Public Radio's Lisa Peakes discovered sellers of old-time wood stoves are getting 'stoked' even as we speak.

Peakes: "Chilly temperatures in New England this weekend sent residents scrambling to firm up their winter heating plans. Emerging from the shuffle was the resounding clang of wood stove deliveries. New England consumes the most heating oil in the country. Several utilities have requested double-digit rate increases and this year, short supplies combined with a sudden cold snap could mean big price spikes. That has the humble wood stove making a comeback. At Stove and Flag Works in Shelburne, Vermont, August was the best month they've had in 25 years and September's looking even better. Customer Sharon Halleck plans to use her stove as one of several weapons in the arsenal against the cold. In August, she took advantage of a pre-buy program with her fuel dealer."

Halleck: "We actually locked into a lower rate this fall and we're going to use wood as a backup to keep the prices down"

Peakes: "Fixed rates and special bulk order opportunities are drying up fast, but homeowners still have time to hedge the crunch of a mid-season price hike by making their home more energy efficient. Donna Fournier has been heating with wood all her life. She says stoves are high maintenance and doesn't recommend them for people who don't like to lift a finger."

Fournier: "They are clearly not old Vermonters. Because there's very little romance in cutting and stacking and moving wood"

Peakes: "So, new stove owners will find themselves burning calories as well as the home fires. Susan Plegge, the store proprietor, says older people are going for gas stoves."

Plegge: "They're tired of lugging and tugging. Flick it on, and you've got instant heat. Amen."

Peakes: "The energy department is saying New England heating bills could top $900 this year. Stove dealers estimate wood heat could pay for itself within three years. In Burlington, Vermont, I'm Lisa Peakes for Marketplace."

And that's the top of our news for Monday. If you didn't like the stock market on Friday, you're not apt to like today much either. Today the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 108 points, 1.1 percent. The Nasdaq fell 2.8 percent.