ABSTRACT
Views are polarized (Table 8.1): industry and many scientists have argued that biotechnology and genetic manipulation techniques will bring major economic and social benefits, such as new therapeutic drugs and improved crop varieties. They contend that there are no scientific reasons why genetic modification should pose additional risks to human health or the environment.2 As such, regulation should be flexible and supportive of technological innovation and development in this area. Those opposed to the techniques, including some environmental groups, argue that, by crossing species boundaries, genetic manipulation is tampering with nature in a way
that traditional selection techniques have not done. First, these actions will raise a range of environmental and health risks and, secondly, they generate certain ethical considerations (Haerlin 1990). The latter point is clearly important and arguably has influenced the framework in which European regulation has been set; however, it is beyond the scope of this section (RCEP 1989: chs 4, 5; Wheale & MacNally 1990, Mepham 1994, Munson 1995).
