title: Biotech's defining moments.
abstract: Confusion about terms related to biotechnology--genetic modification, GMOs, genetic engineering, transgenic, and all the rest--has been around for decades. This definitional dysfunction has created myriad opportunities for mischief and given rise to widespread over-regulation, diminished agricultural R&D, ill-advised conferences and risk assessment studies, flawed analyses (including a recent tome from the OECD), fear-mongering by NGOs, and a perplexed public. Greater precision in terminology would improve the lot of scientists, the quality of public policy and, eventually, human and environmental health.
authors.affiliation: The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6010, USA. miller@hoover.stanford.edu
authors.forename: Henry I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D001709:Biotechnology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D030781:Organisms, Genetically Modified / Q000523:psychology*; D011639:Public Opinion; D011640:Public Policy; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D009626:Terminology as Topic