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Social, political, legal and ethical areas of inquiry in

biotechnology and genetic engineering

 

Department of Sociology, Room 1018 Arts Building, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sask.,Canada S7N 5A5

 

Biotechnology and genetic engineering are having major impacts on agriculture and pharmaceuticals as well as in various environmental and industrial applications. However, social scientists and others often seem to have little understanding of these new technologies. This article identifies social, political, legal, and ethical areas of inquiry, and provides easy-to-understand examples of how biotechnology and genetic engineering are being applied. ? 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

 

The 21st century ushered in a new kind of technological revolution that has brought significant changes from the past several decades. During the 20th century, there were four major revolutions in science. We moved from an era dominated by chemical sciences to another dominated by the nuclear sciences, and then quickly moved into the information technology stage which made possible a revolution within the biological sciences. With the assistance of modern computer technology, biotechnology and its cousin genetic engineering, have been unraveling the secrets of microorganisms and the sequence of DNA. Biotechnology can be defined as the use of microorganisms to perform certain tasks [1]. In itself, this is not new technology, for microorganisms have been used for centuries to produce alcoholic beverages and cheeses. Confusion