The potential of biotechnology for developed and developing countries

Abstract

The extraordinary developments occurring in biotechnology throughout the world will lead to significant changes in world commerce, as well as in human health and welfare. A few dramatic advances have already been made in medical and agricultural biotechnology. Production of vaccines employing recombinant DNA methods is one example of the potential for genetic engineering applications in the treatment of hereditable and communicable diseases. Lesser understood, but with equally dramatic promise, is marine biotechnology, an example where the excellent possibilities for industry applications in both developing and developed countries can be elucidated. Recent successes in the cloning of growth hormone genes in salmon and other important genes and gene complexes in fin fish and shellfish promise major changes in production of commercially important fish and shellfish. Pharmacologically active compounds from marine animals and plants can now be harvested effectively, using biotechnology. Specialty chemicals and enzymes with unusual properties, unique to the marine environment, with potential for industrial applications, are being discovered. Thus, new products and new markets appear on the horizon. What has changed the picture significantly is the ready access which is now available to these new materials and compounds by the application of the methods of genetic engineering. No longer is it necessary to depend on sustained harvest, which may be subject to vagaries of weather or climate. By means of genetic engineering, genes coding for economically desirable traits can be cloned and those systems established in the laboratory in controlled culture and production. The enormous natural resources of developing countries cannot be productively harnessed by the developing countries themselves, since the industrial resources needed for the technology and the trained intellectual potential are not in abundant supply. Partnerships between developed and developing countries should be established so that the benefits of biotechnology can be achieved by both. An important role for applied microbiology, thus, is described and a dramatic impact at the global level can be predicted if effective biotechnology partnerships between the developing and developed countries of the world are created.