Gene control needed in the fight against the California pests

Democracy at work..

Dr.Henry Miller of Stanford voices his opinion about the failure of pest control in California, not being helped by Measure H that was recently passed in Mendocino County.

These ballot measures, which are introduced and promoted by misinformed, misguided activists, are logically inconsistent, in that their strictures are inversely related to risk: They permit the use of microorganisms and plants that are crafted with less precise, less predictable techniques, but ban those made with highly precise and predictable ones. Most important of all, they block sophisticated genetic approaches to the eradication of blights such as sudden oak death, phyloxera and powdery mildew, as well as Pierce's Disease.