ABSTRACT
Since the mid-1970s a series of techniques have been developed that allow DNA sequences, or genes, to be isolated and transferred from one organism to another. These techniques, known collectively as genetic engineering or biotechnology, can breakdown barriers between species that are not naturally part of the same breeding population. Biotechnology produces transgenic or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) such as sheep which contain genes drawn from humans; or potatoes that contain genes from moths, a lettuce that has a gene from a fish (Baumann et al, 1996). There is some debate as to the effect of a gene when transferred into a quite different organism (Kolleck, 1994), especially given that genes can interact with each other and the outcomes can be influenced by environmental issues. Biotechnology is a new technology for which ambitious claims are made; yet there are high levels of uncertainty accompanied by increasing public anxiety.
