California s drought has many impacts especially on agriculture. As Dr. Henry Miller, a physician and molecular biologist, research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution (and former ACSH Trustee) points out, the anti-GMO crowd is making the situation worse. In a recent essay in The Wall Street Journal s Political Diary, Dr. Miller points out that genetic engineering can, and in fact has, produced crops with a reduced need for irrigation. Think of how such crops could save water for other uses, while still providing the agricultural commodities that give California much of its economic stability, he urges us. But anti-GMO scare tactics have made the wide adoption of such crops infinitely more difficult.
ACSH s Dr. Ruth Kava says Kudos to Dr. Miller for his on-target comments. It should be obvious by now almost 20 years into the mass cultivation of GM crops that genetic engineering can provide numerous benefits to agriculture and health, and that the anti-GMO groups couldn t care less about these real benefits. They d rather inveigh against the technology with trumped-up fears and cautions.