On December 22 Judge Gerhard A. Gesell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a suit filed by environmental activist Jeremy Rifkin that sought to overturn the June 26 announcement on the grounds that it bypassed established federal rulemaking procedures.
The same day, Gesell dismissed as premature a separate suit brought by Rifkin to force the Environmental Protection Agency to require that agencies licensed to release genetically engineered materials into the environment be financially able to undo any damage done. Gesell ruled that Rifkin had shown no specific injury caused by the rules and that Rifkin had not established his legal standing to sue in the case.
Despite the suit's allegations, federal agencies had not adopted the rules, Judge Gesell said. "While the [June 26] document is not a model of clarity, its treatment by the agencies involved conclusively establishes it is merely a first effort ...
