Uncertainty and naivety in Germany's science politics: The SPD and Green coalition that governs Germany has made notable progress and demonstrated flexibility in the process. But the Greens' lack of expertise needs redressing if good science is to get the support it deserves
Article Abstract:
The German coalition government has agreed on a ban of the reprocessing of nuclear waste, a goal whose attainment has been accelerated by the junior coalition partners, the Green party. The Greens have been willing to compromise to stay in power, but it is uncertain how a compromise will be reached on the sensitive issue of agricultural biotechnology. The Greens want the responsibility for the licensing of field trials of transgenic plants and marketing of transgenic foods to be moved from the Robert Koch Institute which is an office of the federal health ministry, to the federal environment ministry. Plant scientists are concerned that this would mean new restrictions, and that licensing would be placed in inexperienced hands.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1999
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Clams before Columbus?
Article Abstract:
Radiocarbon dating of clams found in Denmark indicates that Mya arenaria was brought to Europe from America before Christopher Columbus' voyage. Accelerator mass spectrometry places the specimens in the 13th century, which would be compatible with their introduction by Viking traders.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Against short-termism: priorities for a new government. Thirty years back: Britain's new government has an unexpectedly intelligent recipe for managing research
- Abstracts: The ins and outs of fertilization. The S receptor kinase determines self-incompatibility in Brassica stigma. Direct ligand-receptor complex interaction controls Brassica self-incompatibility
- Abstracts: An evaluation and modification of World Conservation Union Red List criteria for classification of extinction risk in vascular plants
- Abstracts: Too good to be true: Many a scientist has been seduced by an elegant idea, only to find that aesthetics are not always a good guide to a theory's accuracy
- Abstracts: Leeds disunited: there is no substitute for openness in the handling of allegations of scientific misconduct. Gallo on the rack: the latest government pronouncement raises questions about the office itself as well as about Gallo