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ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVESPERSPECTIVES Eoctober 2005 JOURNALURNALUSA ECONOMICECONOMIC PERSPECTIVESPERSPECTIVES eOCTOBER 2005 THETHE PROMISEPROMISE OFOF BIOTECHNOLOGYBIOTECHNOLOGY U.S. DEPARTMENT 0F STATE / BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION PROGRAMS The Bureau of International Information Programs of the U.S. Department of State publishes five electronic journals—Economic Perspectives, Global Issues, Issues ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES of Democracy, Foreign Policy Agenda, and Society & Values—that examine major issues facing the UnitedUnited States and the international community, as well as U.S. Editor.........Jonathan Schaffer society, values, thought, and institutions. Each of the Managing Editor.................Andrzej Zwaniecki Contributing Editors .........Kathleen E. Hug five is catalogued by volume (the number of years in ...........Linda Johnson publication) and by number (the number of issues that ...........Martin Manning appear during the year). ...........Kathryn A. McConnell .................Bruce Odessey One new journal is published monthly in English and Illustrations Editor.................Maggie J. Sliker is followed two to four weeks later by versions in French, Cover Design.................Min-Chih Yao Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian. Selected editions also appear in Arabic and Chinese, and other languages as Publisher..................Judith S. Siegel Executive Editor......................Richard W. Huckaby needed. Production Manager.................Christian S. Larson The opinions expressed in the journals do not Assistant Production Manager.........................Sylvia Scott necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Editorial Board.................Alexander C. Feldman government. The U.S. Department of State assumes no .................Francis B. Ward responsibility for the content and continued accessibility .................Kathleen R. Davis of Internet sites to which the journals link; such responsibility resides solely with the publishers of those Cover Images: Jack Dykinga/ARS, Markus/Matzel/ sites. Journal articles, photographs, and illustrations may Peter Arnold, Inc., be reproduced and translated outside the United States AP/WWP/USDA, and AP/WWP/NREL. unless they carry explicit copyright restrictions, in which case permission must be sought from the copyright holders noted in the journal. The Bureau of International Information Programs maintains current and back issues in several electronic formats, as well as a list of upcoming journals, at http: //usinfo.state.gov/journals/journals.htm. Comments on Economic Perspectives areare welcomewelcome at youryour local U.S. Embassy or at the editorial offices: Editor, Economic Perspectives IIP/T/ES U.S. Department of State 301 4th St. S.W. Washington, D.C. 20547 United States of America E-mail: [email protected] Economic Perspectives / October 2005 eJOURNALOURNAL USA ABOUT THIS ISSUE ew technologies, whether they are in organic waste and bacteria engineered to break Nmedicine, industry, or agriculture, down environmental pollutants to crops that often initially generate public skepticism. add vitamins to what we eat and novel drugs Nowhere is this currently more evident than for treating human diseases such as Alzheimer’s in biotechnology, where issues of health and and diabetes. environment are hotly debated. As National Science Adviser John Marburger “Bioconservative intellectuals are fully writes in the introduction to this publication: cognizant of the tendency for our species to “Our aim is not simply to understand disease, be suspicious of the new and the strange, and but to cure it; not only to consume whatever they clearly want to harness that suspicion as a edible we find, but to make it safer, more strategy to restrain biotechnological progress,” nutritious; not just to harvest nature’s random writes author Ronald Bailey in his 2005 book products for our manufacturers, but to make Liberation Biology. them stronger, safer, and more adapted to our But as Bailey points out, public opinion needs.” is highly changeable, and the benefits from We hope that readers will take the time to technological progress are not always well review each of the articles and gain from them understood. He cites in vitro fertilization and a greater understanding of the tremendous optical laser technologies as just two examples potential that biotechnology offers for where the public had fears and/or doubts but improving the quality of life for all people now broadly supports the technologies and throughout the world. appreciates the huge gains from them. This issue of Economic Perspectives explores some of the most promising applications of biotechnology, from microorganisms The Editors engineered to produce hydrogen gas from eJOURNALOURNAL USA Economic Perspectives / October 2005 ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE / OCTOBER 2005 / VOLUME 10 / NUMBER 4 http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/journals.htm CONTENTS THE PROMISE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY 4 Introduction 17 Plant Biotechnology: Advances in JOHN MARBURGER, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND Food, Energy, and Health TECHNOLOGY POLICY, EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT RICHARD HAMILTON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CERES, INC.; RICHARD B. FLAVELL, CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER, 6 Global Challenges and Biotechnology CERES, INC.; ROBERT B. GOLDBERG, PROFESSOR OF MOLECULAR, JENNIFER KUZMA, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, CENTER CELL, AND DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND PUBLIC POLICY, CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Advances in agricultural biotechnology will result in Governments and other organizations need to invest in crops that have improved tolerance to drought, heat, biotech research and development tailored toward and cold; require fewer fertilizer and pesticide products that can help developing countries. applications; and produce vaccines to prevent major communicable diseases. 10 Sidebar: A Chemical Reaction for Biotechnology: The 2005 Nobel Prize 21 Sidebar: Biotech Bugs Cheryl Pellerin, State Department Science Writer 22 Designing Novel Materials and 11 The Transforming Power of Medical Molecular Machines Biotechnology SHUGUANG ZHANG, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, CENTER BILL SNYDER, SENIOR SCIENCE WRITER, FOR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, MASSACHUSETTS VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY The future refinement of “targeted therapies” aimed at One day mankind may be able to use nano devices the biological underpinnings of disease should to repair body parts or to rejuvenate the skin, dramatically improve drug safety and efficacy, and the enhance human capabilities, harness the unlimited development of predictive technologies may lead to a solar energy, and achieve other feats that seem new era in disease prevention. impossible today. 15 Sidebar: The Race Against Gene Doping 27 Sidebar: Whither Nanotechnology? Huntington F. Willard, Director, Duke University Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Distinguished Professor of Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, and Vice Engineering Science and Mechanics, Pennsylvania Chancellor for Genome Sciences, Duke University State University Medical Center Economic Perspectives / October 2005 eJOURNALOURNAL USA 29 The International Rice Genome 36 U.S. Regulation of Agricultural Sequencing Project: A Case Study Biotechnology C. ROBIN BUELL, ASSOCIATE INVESTIGATOR, INSTITUTE FOR GENOMIC RESEARCH 38 Glossary of Biotechnology Terms A “map” of rice’s genetic makeup will enable rice breeders to accelerate their breeding programs and 42 Bibliography develop more hearty rice varieties, and farmers to improve their growing methods and extend their 44 Internet Resources growing seasons. 32 The Birth of Biotechnology: Harnessing the Power of DNA DINESH RAMDE, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The speed at which the biotech industry took off, the magnitude of its success, and the scope of its impact have surprised even its pioneers. eJOURNALOURNAL USA Economic Perspectives / October 2005 INTRODUCTION iotechnology is the most recent step in Life, in other words, can be surveyed today for the humankind’s long endeavor to use nature’s own first time in history throughout its entire spectrum, from Bprocesses to advance the human condition. the smallest to the largest scales. The tools that made this The word itself joins knowledge to practice, science possible draw heavily from other fields of science and to technology. We might have used it to describe the require large investments that normally only governments emergence of agriculture, or of pharmacology, or even can make. The insights revealed by these tools, however, the training of athletes—activities that have grown from can be analyzed and exploited with relatively modest ancient roots into exotic and very contemporary forms. resources. That is just as well because small-scale nature is In each case, accumulating knowledge of nature has stunningly complex. We are nowhere near understanding suggested ways of making life safer, healthier, and more all that we can see, and even with powerful new tools, productive. While biotechnology is a relatively new word exploring the terrain of life will consume the energies with narrower connotations, it is good to keep in mind its of entire communities of scientists. The territory is vast, link to the past, especially when speaking of its benefits for and the mapping and developing of it are international cultures separated from the traditions of modern science. enterprises. Biotechnology begins with the study of plants and This vastness of the universe of living things extends animals, intricate and beautiful even in their
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