ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises the article of Bernard Rollin, takes up some presuppositions of his speech and give some comments, and provides a short presentation on the opposition to agricultural biotechnology, an overview of all the ethical considerations that have been made by different authors. Rollin is of the opinion that in the case of genetic engineering both the scientific community and also the general public often miss the mark in their attention to ethical issues. The Frankenstein metaphor is the possible danger to humans that grows out of scientific curiosity, mentioned as follows by Rollin: 'There are certain things that are wrong to do because they must or will lead to great harm to human beings'. The potential impacts of biotechnology are great. Clearly, the practical applications of agricultural biotechnology hold many promises for a better world. The chapter concludes that the variety of approaches to agricultural biotechnology, and also to environmental ethics, indicate the complexity of the current debate.
