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Editorial

Nature Biotechnology 26, 247 (1 March 2008) | doi:10.1038/nbt0308-247

Off the rails

A process intended to provide a grand unifying vision for how agriculture will meet the needs of the world's 850 million poorest over the next 50 years has developed astigmatism so severe with regard to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that it comes close to blindness. The IAASTD is unprecedented in scale, appropriately so, perhaps, given its lofty ambition to provide the world's leaders with a roadmap for mobilizing agricultural knowledge, science and technology to reduce hunger and poverty and encourage sustainable development.