The Open Market Blog

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/27/2008

Stimulus package or more deficit spending? I tend to agree with Prof. Samwick in his commentary on “Marketplace” last Friday: It is deficit spending.

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/27/2008

It seems the anti-biotechnology lobby is bringing out the big guns to prevent the new Roundup Ready sugar beet to have its first commercial growing…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/27/2008

The global temperature has been stable since 1998 according to Ole Humlum at the University of Oslo. In the largest paper in Norway, he…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/25/2008

Germany is opening the door for a corn variety bred with molecular plant breeding methods, and neither activists nor Monsanto is happy about the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

Some legislators, including Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) are now hollowing out an age old principle of FDA marketing regulations by promoting mandatory labeling…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

Percy Schmeiser, the Canadian farmer who was convicted of contract breach in the Canadian Supreme Court because he was brown bagging Monsanto seed against the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/22/2008

The US is gearing up for another showdown with the EU over protectionist trade barriers based on environmental concerns. French president Sarkozy suggested a…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/21/2008

Pennsylvania is backing down from its labeling ban after pressure from consumer groups. Diaries can now label products as being produced without artificial growth…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

I wrote about the French January 9 moratorium on plants created with molecular plant breeding techniques previously. I thought the reports that stated there…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

On the tack board over my desk is a cardboard box from a Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia bar. I love Ben & Jerry’s, but…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/18/2008

Richard Morrison could yesterday report that FDA had approved meat from cloned animals for human consumption. USDA is evidently not in agreement,…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/15/2008

EU is giving itself permission to set price floors according to EU Trade Comissioner Peter Mandelson. Norway recently complained to World Trade Organization that…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

Norwegians have been shooked to their core as the queen of the Labor movement and former Norwegian prime minister has been caught receiving free…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

The Netherlands is officially on my list of countries with cool research and development of alternative energy sources. I have previously written about nightclubs…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

I doubt eco-terrorist Jose Bove’s decision to hunger strike earlier this month actually had an impact, but the French have now imposed a…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/14/2008

Climate change is used to justify the most insane political decisions, but for once it is used for a sensible decision. Although there is no…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/08/2008

Norwegian author Onar Ã…m, took IPCC chairman Rajendra Kumar Pachauri to task at a debate at the University of Stavanger, Norway on Monday this…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 01/08/2008

My dear sister is of the worried sort, but there is usually not much to worry about down in the idyllic little corner of her…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 12/28/2007

There is nothing new in a New York Times story about the GMO standoff in Europe. It is a political standoff, caused by activists…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 12/28/2007

Yule never came to Rosia Montana, Romania, this year. With the help of activists such as billionaire George Soros and British actress Vanessa Redgrave, it…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 12/26/2007

Monsanto has talked the federal government into giving farmers a break on their crop insurance if they use crops that produce pesticides. If other…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 12/26/2007

Now the Italian food police are after my cultural heritage! The Italian version of FDA is concerned that Swedish gingerbread has too high levels…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 12/26/2007

I have an issue with this holiday fuzzy feeling piece from Marketplace, because the anchor’s intro goes as follows: “Crisco is a staple in…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 12/26/2007

Mercury is illegal in Norway from January 1, 2008, or so they want us to think. The Minister of the Environment duly noted the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/12/2007

I have recently published several op eds on how the European Right has adopted the environmental policy of the Left, embracing greater interventions in the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/12/2007

A recent survey in Britain on which laws Brits regards as their most stupid laws make a case for sunset provisions. The laws include…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/08/2007

This study shows an increase in pedestrian deaths in afternoon rush hour traffic in November every year and the researchers are pinning it on the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/08/2007

Politics is a dirty business anywhere, but this story shows how dirty it is, and how cheap you can buy a vote in the…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/07/2007

You might have heard about the chaos surrounding the Swedish executive branch lately. First, an undersecretary that was on call for the evening was…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/07/2007

Voters seemed intent on tightening up the public belt buckle if we are to believe this story from AP of all the ballot initiatives…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/05/2007

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Florida) has coined this apt term for companies such as Concurrent Technologies during a debate about earmarks for a center Concurrent was…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/01/2007

Iowa has decided to put a tax on pumpkins that are not consumed. You have to sign a form promising to eat the thing…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 11/01/2007

Just as France has put a temporary freeze on growing corn bred with molecular plant breeding techniques, Austria fails to create a majority within…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 10/30/2007

The other side of India’s boom is the corruption and lack of protection of rights for the poor. This story from NPR about a…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 10/30/2007

Nice commentary by Jonathan Chait on Marketplace last week about the problem with farm subsidies.

• By: Lene Johansen
• 10/30/2007

As EU allows four more GMO crops (crops created with molecular plant breeding techniques), the new president of France puts a temporary “freeze”…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 10/29/2007

Owner of one of the largest food retailers in Norway, Trond Lykke says organic food is selfish because it requires more land area and…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 10/29/2007

Regulatory insanity in the EU has been halted for another four years thanks to a concerted effort by lobby groups. The EU will, for now,…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 10/17/2007

A world where there’s not enough electricity. This story I found in the Philadelphia Inquirer this weekend is a view into where life will…

• By: Lene Johansen
• 10/12/2007

I am ashamed to be Norwegian today. The Norwegian Nobel Committee chose to give the prize to a shyster and a bureaucratic ministry of truth.