Useful Fools

Way back at the “Earth Summit” in 1992, the usual useful fools foisted a treaty on the world called the Convention on Biological Diversity. Actually, it wasn’t so much well meaning as greedy. The treaty was seen by third world countries as a way to grab a lot of money for any products resulting from biological finds in their territory.

Naturally, as one can easily predict, this is not what happened. It turns out there isn’t much money to be had. Furthermore, the treaty is already seriously hampering science:

“The treaty is an absolute disaster for scientists,” said a senior UN official on condition of anonymity. “It draws no distinction between scientists bioprospecting for drugs and pharmaceuticals, scientists conducting academic research, and those collecting samples for agricultural research and plant breeding. I feel sorry for the scientists. It’s a nightmare.”

Isn’t it amazing how these nice sounding eco-spasms, produced by statists and international bureaucrats, usually turn out to have more unintended consequences than benefits!