AUTHOR'S BIO
Henry I. Miller
Henry I. Miller, a physician and molecular biologist, is a Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He was the founding director of the Office of Biotechnology at the FDA.
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Hope or Hype for Personalized Medicine?
Henry I. Miller Series: Health and Medicine 2011-11-24During the past several decades, treatment for a variety of conditions has begun to shift from a “one size fits all” approach to a more personalized strategy that takes account of patients' specific genetic makeups. But, while this high-tech approach could be a boon to patients, it could be detrimental to drug companies’ bottom lines.... read Comments: 1 Recommended: 0 Read: 9089
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Dying to Grow?
Henry I. Miller Series: Health and Medicine 2011-10-25
Studies that show an association between a factor and a health effect should be regarded as no more than a preliminary result that points researchers toward further research and analysis. But even professional regulators, who should know better, sometimes don't, as a recent advisory about human-growth hormone shows.... read Comments: 2 Recommended: 0 Read: 9303
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Tropics of Cancer?
Henry I. Miller Series: Health and Medicine 2011-08-03Many people in poor countries die from cancers that are preventable or treatable in wealthier societies, but they often succumb to other scourges as well, such as infectious diseases. The bottom line is that, given limited health-care resources, we need to make hard decisions that will deliver high-impact outcomes for the most people at the least cost.... read Comments: 1 Recommended: 0 Read: 11210
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Can Radiation Be Good For You?
Henry I. Miller Series: Health and Medicine 2011-04-08
The earthquake- and tsunami-related problems at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant have inspired much commentary and speculation. Unfortunately, however, much of the debate about the disaster and its implications has been uninformed and problematic.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 16062
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The Diarrhea Pioneers
Henry I. Miller Series: Health and Medicine 2010-11-16Haiti's cholera outbreak highlights a dismal statistic: diarrhea is the number-two infectious killer of children under the age of five in developing countries, accounting for roughly two million deaths a year. A simple but ingenious innovation could bring that number down sharply - if only regulators would do their jobs.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 10870
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Understanding the Frankenstein Tradition
Henry I. Miller Series: Science and Society 2010-11-03
In the three months since researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute, led by Venter himself, synthesized the genome of a bacterium and inserted it into the cell of a different variety of bacteria, reactions have ranged from “slight novelty” to “looming apocalypse.” The former is more apt: Venter’s creation is evolutionary, not revolutionary.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 1 Read: 13093
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Re-Booting DDT
Henry I. Miller Series: Science and Society 2010-05-05The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's approach to malaria focuses on bed nets, which are only modestly effective intervention, and on the development of a vaccine, which has eluded intensive efforts for decades. Gates could do a lot more good by helping to de-stigmatize an old, cheap, and safe way to control the mosquitoes that spread the disease: the chemical DDT.... read Comments: 4 Recommended: 0 Read: 16753
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The Pandemic That Wasn’t
Henry I. Miller Series: Science and Society 2010-04-05
The WHO's declaration last year of an H1N1 "pandemic" has been widely criticized, and revealed the organization's paradigm to be fundamentally flawed. Indeed, the episode strongly suggests that, while the WHO may be able to perform and report worldwide surveillance – i.e., count numbers of cases and fatalities – its policy role should be drastically reduced.... read Comments: 1 Recommended: 1 Read: 15161
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A Squandered Golden Opportunity
Henry I. Miller Series: Science and Society 2009-01-12Nine years after its creation, despite its vast potential to benefit humanity – and a negligible probability of harm to human health or the environment – genetically modified "Golden Rice" remains hung up in regulatory red tape, with no end in sight. In the absence of comprehensive regulatory reform, the same fate awaits more recent creations, like cancer-fighting tomatoes.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 15429
| Hard Truths about Bird Flu | Henry I. Miller 
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