CONTENTS

Economic Perspectives

An Electronic Journal of the U.S. Department of State, Vol. 7, No. 2, May 2002

Focus Commentary Facts and Figures Information Resources

FOOD SECURITY AND SAFETY

FOCUS

NEW CHALLENGES IN HUNGER
By Tony Hall, Ambassador-designate to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Program and International Fund for Agricultural Development; current Member, U.S. House of Representatives; Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Hunger
Hunger's elimination requires broad-based debt relief, global markets open to developing country products, targeted food assistance, legal protections for the poor, and creative public-private partnerships that complement official development assistance.

ENSURING SAFE FOOD
By Sally McCammon, Chief Scientist,
Agriculture and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
The United States has the most thorough food safety regulatory system in the world that ensures no new product is released on the world market without extensive review.

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IN BANGLADESH: A SUCCESS STORY
By Gordon West, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Asia and Near East Bureau, United States Agency for International Development
Bangladesh's accomplishments in transforming its devastated agricultural sector into one of the most productive farm economies in all of South Asia is a major development success story.

COMMENTARY

GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY
By G. Edward Schuh, Regents Professor of International Economic Policy, University of Minnesota
Alleviating food insecurity will require governments to reallocate resources in support of agricultural modernization.

BATTLING HUNGER WITH BIOTECHNOLOGY
By Gregory Conko, Director of Food Safety Policy, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and C.S. Prakash, Professor of Plant Molecular Genetics,
Tuskegee University
Needless restrictions on agricultural biotechnology would harm the world's ability to battle hunger in the 21st century.

RICE: WHY IT'S SO ESSENTIAL FOR GLOBAL SECURITY AND STABILITY
By Ronald Cantrell, Director General, International Rice Research Institute
The challenge for the plant research community is to tap into the rice genome sequence to produce higher yielding, more nutritious and more resistant rice.

TWO VIEWS ON FOOD LABELING
Consumers around the world should have accurate information about the nutritional contents of their food, but the exact nature of what food labels should include is at the heart of international negotiations. Two opposing views present a full picture of the shape of the discussion in the United States.

    FOOD LABELING IN CODEX ALIMENTARUS
    By Ellen Matten, International Policy Analyst, U.S. Codex Office


    LABELING AND TRACEABILITY OF BIOENGINEERED FOODS
    By Kristin Dawkins, Vice President, and Neil Sorensen, Program Associate,
    Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy


PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES TO PROTECT FOOD
By Timothy Willard, Vice President of Communications,
National Food Processors Association
Food processes that retard the deterioration of foods and prolong shelf life make an important contribution to world food security.

FACTS AND FIGURES

WORLD TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

AMOUNTS OF ARABLE LAND BY COUNTRY

INFORMATION RESOURCES

KEY CONTACTS AND INTERNET SITES

ADDITIONAL READINGS

An Electronic Journal of the U.S. Department of State

Volume 7, Number 2, May 2002

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