Creating New Partnerships in Global Biotechnology

摘要

AN EDITORIAL ON AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNO-logy and Third-World development noted that "Rather than feed the world, biotechnology threatens to compound the problems of the poor and hungry... " (Shand, 1993). Reasons typically cited in favor of this line of thinking generally focus on the potential of biotechnology to displace traditional export commodities, decrease global biodiversity, and polarize access to improved germplasm in favor of the industrialized nations. While it is noteworthy to consider these arguments in their proper context, no discussion of biotechnojogy in relation to Third-World agriculture is complete without due consideration of the potential benefits the technology offers to simultaneously address needs for increased agriculturalproductivity in the face of burgeoning population pressures and a threatened global environment.