| Whether you live in San Diego, Orange County, in the | | | | In agriculture, biotechnology can be used to boost |
| farming areas of the Coachella Valley and Central | | | | the yield from crops, reduce the vulnerability of crops |
| California, or in high tech areas such as La Jolla and | | | | to disease or weather, and to increase the nutritional |
| Irvine, biotechnology and patent law is vital to | | | | values of foods. It can even be used to improve the |
| business. | | | | taste or texture of foods. A benefit of biotechnology |
| I've been asked, "What is biotechnology really about | | | | in agricultural applications is to reduce the need for |
| and does it mean the end of civilization as we know | | | | pesticides or other harmful chemicals on crops that |
| it." | | | | go into the nation's water supply. |
| It is often referred to as genetic engineering, which | | | | A new area in which biotechnology is developing |
| will cause the average person to go into a sweat | | | | rapidly is in biological engineering such as in the |
| fearing that he may have just eaten some genetically | | | | development of bio processes from the laboratory |
| altered food for breakfast. | | | | to the manufacturing or industrial scale. |
| But biotechnology is so much more, and in this | | | | Biotechnology is not without criticisms and raises |
| writer's opinion, it is the hope of mankind if it is | | | | moral dilemmas. What biotechnology can solve, |
| developed with an abiding respect for nature and a | | | | sometimes produces unwanted results such as |
| doctor's creed of ensuring no harm is done. | | | | residues and super resistant foods that may |
| Today, biotechnology is broken down into four main | | | | contaminate other non-genetically modified crops. |
| areas: red biotechnology is applied to the medical | | | | Cloning has also stirred much controversy each time |
| field, green biotechnology is applied to agriculture, | | | | it is in the news. |
| white biotechnology is in the industrial field and blue | | | | But biotechnology in the future may also lead to new |
| refers to the aquatic field. | | | | ways to clean up contaminated environments and |
| In the medical field, biotechnology helps develop new | | | | the pollutants and wastes mankind produces. And as |
| medicines, new therapies, and can be used to use | | | | the world does harm to its environment, much must |
| normal genes to target or replace defective genes or | | | | also be done to reverse these effects before it is |
| boost immunity. | | | | too late. |