ABSTRACT
Biotechnology, or genetic engineering, means different things to different people. The simplest de nition of biotechnology is “applied biology.” Another de nition is “the use of living organisms to make a product or run a process” (Zinnen and Voichick, 1999). Government agencies and research entities refer to biotechnology as “the application of biological systems and organisms to the production of useful goods and services” (IFT, 2000). This de nition encompasses applications in biology, genetics, and biochemistry to advance technical and industrial processes and techniques ranging from drug development to sh farming, forestry, crop development, fermentation, and oil spill clean up.
