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Science
Friday > Archives
> 1998
> June
> June 19, 1998:
Hour Two: Biotech Bonanza
| What do you think of when you hear the word "biotechnology?" Dolly, Polly, Molly, and other sheep clones? Late-night B movies in which genetically engineered seaweed takes over a village? The just-announced merger between Monsanto and American Home Products?
Biotechnology experts from around the world met in New York this week - and most of them think that biotechnology means a better world, with better medicine, agriculture and more. |  | Agricultural biotechnologists look forward to new strains of disease-resistant corn, drought-resistant rice, and insect-resistant cotton. They see trees that grow faster to satisfy the desire for hardwood, and even coffee plants engineered to grow caffeine-free beans.
Researchers in the medical biotechnology field are talking about "personalized medicine" - doctors being able to custom-tailor medications to a person's specific genetic makeup, to boost the effectiveness of drugs and reduce unwanted side effects. Biotechnology is involved in many fields of new drug development, from vaccines to research into monoclonal antibodies and antisense technology.
On this hour of Science Friday, we'll take a look at biotech today- and at what might be just around the corner.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in association with private companies, has applied for a patent on a technology that allows production of seeds that are sterile in their second generation.The seeds sprout when planted, but seeds produced by that crop of plants are sterile. The USDA claims that the technology will allow companies to develop better strains of plants, secure in the knowledge that their research investment is safe. Others see the patent as the key to a technology which will harm many low-income farmers worldwide.
Here's what some listeners had to say...
Guests:
Beryl Morris
CEO, ForBio Research
ForBio
Brisbane, Australia
Ken Conway
President
Millenium Predictive Medicine
Cambridge, MA
J. Leighton Reed
Chairman, CEO, and Founder
Aviron
California
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
Biotechnology Industry Association
Monsanto
Celgene
Aviron
Millenium
The Virtual Genome Center
GenBank
Institute for Genomic Research TIGR database
National Center for Genome Resources
National Bioethics Advisory Committee
Center for Bioethics, Kennedy Institute, Georgetown University
Center for Bioethics at University of Minnesota
Center for Bioethics at University of Pennsylvania
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
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