Introduction

This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part demonstrates the sectoral specificity of the literatures on agricultural and biomedical technologies by virtue of the fact that they do not have one literature citation in common. It shows the dramatic differences in media framing of agrofood versus biomedical technologies in both the US and Europe. The part provides an empirical window on another profound difference between the agrofood and biomedical biotechnology sectors. It shows that the major issues in biomedical biotechnology tend to revolve around the cost of equity in access and discrimination in the application of the new genetics to health care. The part deals with the enormous role played by patent systems in shaping the nature of biotechnology R&D. It highlights “the role of enlightened experts, who variously employ their social conscience and objective expertise in negotiating decision-making in the clinical and policy realms.”