ABSTRACT
People have felt both fascination and unease about biotechnological developments which promise-or threaten-to transform our world irrevocably. Biotechnology has met controversy over the problems it selects to be solved and over its proposed solutions. Since the 1980s a wide-ranging debate about ‘risk’ in biotechnology has involved environmental, socio-economic and ethical concerns. The term ‘risk’ denotes not only tangible harm, but also a threat of violating social norms or imposing a sinister control upon nature and society.
