BIOTECHNOLOGY: THE FUTURE AS VIEWED BY LAND-GRANT UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS
Clifton Anderson
Optimistic regarding the future of agricultural biotechnology, research directors at American land-grant universities expect the ongoing "biotechnology revolution"to benefit the public, including consumers and farmers. Unresolved public policy questions involving biotechnology do concern many of the research administrators who responded to an opinion poll, but the prevailing attitude appears to be one of confident expectation that solutions will in time emerge for all outstanding biotech problems .
Asked about "biotechnology's ethical questions,"a majority of the respondents indicated that U.S. land-grant institutions are well equipped to deal with such questions.
The respondents said biotechnology may pose environmental risks, but they did not expect biological catastrophes to occur. They said biotechnology could be used to foster low-input methods of agricultural production, and they were in favor of pursuing biotech research that might improve agriculture's sustainability.
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