Correspondence: Henry I. Miller, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6010, USA. Tel: +1 650 725 0185; Fax: +1 650 723 0576; E-mail: miller@hoover.stanford.edu

¹is a physician and molecular biologist, and was at the FDA from 1979 to 1994, where he served in a number of posts. Since 1994, he has been a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, where his research focuses on the relationship between science and regulation and the costs and benefits of government regulation. He is the author of six books and many articles in scholarly and popular publications. His most recent book, The Frankenfood Myth: How Protest and Politics Threaten the Biotech Revolution (co-authored with Gregory Conko), was selected by Barron's as one the 25 Best Books of 2004.

Received 28 August 2007; Revised 28 August 2007.

Abstract

Numerous United Nations policies and programmes inhibit the development and use of important tools that could help both to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and to conserve water, especially in poorer regions of the world. A prime example is the UN's unscientific, anti-innovative approach to regulating recombinant DNA-modified (or gene-spliced, or 'genetically modified (GM)') plants that could both lessen agriculture's 'carbon footprint' and help farmers adapt to droughts and water shortages (a predicted outcome of warming). Like much of what transpires within UN agencies and programmes, the regulation of GM organisms and food derived from them defies scientific consensus and common sense. The result is vastly inflated research and development costs, less innovation, and diminished exploitation of superior techniques and products that could promote adaptation to environmental and public health challenges.