ABSTRACT
Genetic engineering is a still a young technology. It is at that exciting stage driven by the vision of the potential that could be achieved, beckoning the eager researcher and shrewd manufacturer alike. It has emerged, however, at a point where European society is more aware, and often more critical, than before of the issues raised by powerful new areas of science. Alongside the enthusiasm, much concern has also been voiced at the complex and far-reaching questions which the discoveries are raising. It is already clear that these need to be assessed alongside the technological developments, not in their wake. The attitude formerly common in both the scientific and commercial worlds, which regarded ethics as a separate and retrospective matter for society to consider, will no longer suffice. Increasingly, scientists are aware of the need to examine technology and ethics side by side.
