ABSTRACT
Biotechnology is a potent source of hope and fear, both of which are illustrated in this book. At the core of each is the recognition that we are witnessing the creation of a technology that in the most literal sense is powerfully transformative. It is capable of transforming significant features of the living world around us and, because we are biological beings, capable of transforming its creators as well. Both the long-term environmental implications and the ethics of biotechnological interventions to alter the traits of individuals of other species and members of our own are hotly debated. The existence of factual support for arguments made on both sides of the debate makes it particularly difficult to resolve. Biotechnology advocates point to the benefits of the higher yields of genetically modified crops and the human suffering that can be alleviated by correcting medical problems caused by genetic defects. Biotechnology’s critics counter by pointing to the dangers of unintended consequences in the larger ecological and societal contexts in which modified organisms are introduced; and the thought that parents might employ technological measures to determine (or at least influence) traits such as height, athletic ability, intelligence, or physical attractiveness, for their unborn offspring-the so-called designer baby-is deeply troubling to many.2
