TABLE OF CONTENTS During the past two decades, there has been a series of significant advances in the biological sciences that have the potential to be applied to human welfare through biotechnology. These scientific developments are already having a real impact on many aspects of medicine and their commercial applications in agriculture are also beginning to be explored. Some of the myriad potential products of agbiotech have been discussed in this chapter, but it is a mistake to believe that, just because science shows us how to do something, then we will necessarily do it. The public reaction to some of the initial manifestations of agbiotech should serve as a warning to scientists, companies and governments that they must engage in a serious debate about how and where the technology can be best applied. It should be borne in mind that there have been technological developments in the recent past that were initially heralded as being of great promise, but were eventually rejected by public opinion.
One of the most striking examples of public rejection of an important technology is nuclear power. Shortly after World War II, this technology promised cheap, clean energy for all and was initially relatively popular. The theoretical science underpinning the technology was sound but nevertheless it failed for more mundane reasons, mostly relating to the treatment and disposal of highly toxic and long-lived waste products and the safety of operating nuclear reactors. The last straw for many was the disaster at Chernobyl in 1986, which made...
