Last updated: July 14. 2004 3:03AM
Four California counties will vote to ban biotech food
By PAUL ELIAS
AP Biotechnology Writer
Organizers in four counties have gathered enough signatures to place anti-biotechnology measures on their November ballots.
Activists in Marin, Humboldt, Butte and San Luis Obispo were galvanized by a Mendocino County law passed in March that bans genetically modified plants and animals from its borders.
Organizers in several more California counties are collecting signatures in hopes of qualifying their own anti-biotech measures in early 2005 and activists in other local muncipalities in Hawaii, Vermont and elsewhere are also circulating petitions and urging politicians to pass similar legislation.
Activist and biotech proponents are increasingly battling over genetically engineered crops and animals at the state and local level. More than 100 pieces of legislation in support and against biotechnology were introduced in state legislatures across the country last year, according to the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology.
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