BIOTECHNOLOGY

Biotechnology entered its modern era when James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins
and Rosalind Franklin discovered the double helix, twiste-ladder structure of
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in 1953. In 1970’s, modification of organisms at the genetic
level became a reality in what is now known as genetic engineering. DNAs that has been
isolated from different organisms are incorporated into a single molecule. This results to
what is known as GMOs (genetically modified organism).
Biotechnology has subspecialties that correspond to its field of applications. These
subspecialties are color coded. Red biotechnology is in the area of medicine, pharmacy and
health. Application of biotechnology in increasing agricultural yield is green biotech. White
biotechnology on the other hand involves the use of living organisms in industries.
Nutritional enrichment of food products is assigned the yellow color. Gray biotechnology
focuses on applications on environmental remediation. The improvement of aquaculture
and marine food production falls under blue biotechnology.
Crop modifications for arid land agriculture is brown biotechnology. Biotechnolgy is also
used in nano technology and this is subspecialty is gold biotechnology. When
biotechnology‘s purpose is to harm like the development of bioweapons, it is called dark
biotechnology. There are a lot of legal and moral issues that could arise from biotechnology
and these are the concerns of violet or purple biotechnology.
SOCIETAL CONCERNS WITH BIOTECHNOLOG

Society gets an enormous benefit form biotechnology. Despite the advantages that
biotechnology provides society, some concerns are being raised. The biggest concerns are
the environmental effects and the ethical questions of biotechnology. When crops are
modified to withstand pests and other elements such traits may be passed on to weeds. This
process could create super pests in the environment. In another scenario, living modified
organisms (LMOs) might leak out from laboratories or during transport. These organisms
being foreign to the natural environment can inflict damage to other spceies. Another aspect
of the environmental threat stems from GMO crops being favored by farmers.
Since GMO crops give a high yield, farmers will prioritize them over their native crops.
This might lead to the neglect of the native crops and may ultimaltely result to its
extinction. On the otherhand, the ethical questions concerns the use of human embryo in
stem cell research. Many spiritual views consider human embryo as human beings in their
primary stage of development. People who don’t hold such view consider a human embryo
as lump of cell and may therefore be used for research.
INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS ON
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Biotechnology is rapidly changing due to advances in scientific and the sophistication of
instruments as well. The pace at which biotechnology is being developed far exceeds that of
regulatory changes thus creating issues. As mentioned earlier one of the issues is the
environmental hazard that living modified organism (LMO) might inflict once they leak out
during transport. To minimize the possibility of LMOs getting in the natural environment,
the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety was enforced in 2003. It is an international regulatory
charter for ensuring safe transfer and handling of LMOs during trans-boundary movements.
. Another issue in biotechnology is ownership. It is possible that an endemic species from
one nation is the source of DNA material used in developing certain products in another
country. Who has the right over the profit from the product? The Nagoya Protocol on
Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from
their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity addresses this concern. It is a
2014 international agreement on fair and equitable sharing of benefits from utilization of
genetic resources.