What is biotechnology?
The term `biotechnology’ refers to any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for a specific use. Biotechnology, in the form of traditional fermentation techniques, has been used for decades to make bread, cheese or beer. It has also been the basis of traditional animal and plant breeding techniques, such as hybridisation and the selection of plants and animals with specific characteristics to create, for example, crops which produce higher yields of grain. The difference with modern biotechnology is that researchers can now take a single gene from a plant or animal cell and insert it in another plant or animal cell to give it a desired characteristic, such as a plant that is resistant to a specific pest or disease. In the Biosafety Protocol, modern biotechnology means the application of: a) In vitro nucleic acid techniques, including recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and direct inj
Biotechnology focuses on applications made possible by biological research. Just as discoveries in physics, chemistry, and materials sciences brought us electricity and manufactured goods—-and just as discoveries in electronics paved the way to the Internet– so discoveries in the life sciences are driving a new revolution in biotechnology. Biotechnology is Evolving We are right in the midst of the biotechnology revolution, so it is difficult to imagine its future impact. Even our most creative visionaries cannot fully picture where biotechnology will be 20 years from now, or even ten years, or five. Hindsight is always 20:20. Based on what we now know, it is easy to be amused by the 1977 quotation from Ken Olsen, founder and CEO of Digital Equipment Corporation, when he said that there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home. In 1977, it was not easy to imagine how easy it would become to manufacture personal computers, nor was easy to see the numerous ways in
Biotechnology is technology based on biology, especially when used in agriculture, food science, and medicine. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as, “any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use.
