To the editor:

A letter in your September issue by Henry Miller1 likens the decision of German universities to reject full-scale tests of genetically modified (GM) plants in the face of widespread public skepticism to the oppression of art under Hitler. This is an insult to an entire country.

Miller seems to have overlooked the fact that the decisions by these universities followed quite democratic principles. Any protest, be that in the extreme form of the destruction of test fields, is an integral part of democracy and has to be engaged with. The scientific community has a duty to persuade the general public that its research is indeed necessary and vital. If scientists fail in this, as seems to be the case with GM crops in several countries, then the public has every right to oppose the work, irrespective of whether it funds the work through taxes or not. Perhaps this approach sounded too arduous to Miller but as he pointed out, there is a simple solution to this: eliminate such irritating squabbles and lock away any opposition with that great tool of modern democracy—antiterrorism laws. Now, which version would have been more to the liking of Mr. Hitler?