ABSTRACT
Scientific inquiry is seldom justified on short-term utilitarian grounds, and freedom to pursue knowledge is highly valued. The production through recombinant techniques of the human hormone somatostatin signaled throughout the scientific world that the new technology was ready to bear fruit. The economic exploitation of recombinant research has affected the scientific community in other ways. Prominent scientists in genetics have been wooed away from academia into corporate laboratories since the commercialization of gene recombination first began, and some scientists fear what this will mean for the free exchange of knowledge that characterizes science in an academic setting. The commercial exploitation of genetic recombination technology has proved to be both a blessing and a challenge to the community of science. Though considerable secrecy exists in the corporate development of genetic techniques, the patenting process itself ensures eventual publication of new scientific advances.
