The Governance of Biotechnology

dna
Originally uploaded by TigerTigerTiger.

"The revolution in information technology in Silicon Valley has flourished because of opportunities for public-private partnerships and for private investment. Its success has fueled, in turn, reconsideration of the right formula for technology governance globally.

If full recognition of the political consequences of the revolution in information technology has come only as the resolution succeeded, what of the coming changes in biotechnology? Will they, too, be implemented through a decentralized, privatized, globalized marketplace in which consumer demand is the largest factor determining development? Or is biotechnology fundamentally different?

The short answer is that biotechnology is different in at least one critical way: its full implications touch on our deepest hopes and fears. Biotechnology, after all, involves foods, drugs, and medicine. It offers the possibility of saving a dying child or contaminating the food supply. Most far reaching, however, it raises the spectre of transforming us. Until this time, human evolution has been beyond our control. As we unlock the secrets of the genome, we may become able to curtail aging, select the most perfect of our potential offspring, breed athletic superstars, or alter moods to create continual harmony.

How do we begin to make decisions about these possibilities? And perhaps more critically, who gets to decide?"

From STS Nexus.