ABSTRACT
These are three examples of how, in recent years and in different national and cultural contexts, social actors have increasingly become involved in publicly discussing, scrutinizing, and contesting issues of modern biotechnology. These examples show how the new technol ogy of genetic modification has become the subject of sometimes controversial debates in the public sphere. These debates raise scien tific-technical, political and ethical questions, such as what the risks are of releasing GE organisms into the environment, how GE tech nology might help alleviate world hunger, and whether it is morally right to manipulate genetic material. As such, they point to the in creasing politicization of GE technology. This politicization has been prompted, on the one hand, by the maturation of the technology (GE processes and products have left the laboratory and entered the mar ket) and, on the other, by a growing skepticism toward the technology on the part of a broad coalition of interest groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), grassroots activists, critical experts, media
representatives, and sections of the “general” public. These diverse social actors not only critically discuss the technology in terms of its scientific, economic, social, and ethical viability, but also use it as a focus for considering wider political issues, such as globalization, the role of multinationals, and the accountability of scientific and tech nological decision making.
