David J Webber

Biotechnology: Assessing Social Impacts and Policy Implications David J Webber

Publisher Marketing: This collection of 14 essays written by researchers on a variety of topics related to biotechnology focuses on the social, ethical, economic, legal and political aspects of biotechnological applications. Usually defined as any technique that uses living organisms or processes to make or modify products, to improve plants or animals, or to develop micro-organisms, biotechnology has political characteristics similar to those of other technological advances, such as applications of artificial intelligence in manufacturing or new procedures in medicine. In all of these innovations, the rapid application of new scientific knowledge challenges existing social values, legal and political protections, and production processes. In presenting some of the technically and politically complex policy issues that need to be faced by local, state, and national-level policy makers, as well as academic, business, agricultural, and medical institutions during the next decade, these chapters anticipate an array of social, economic and institutional consequences that will occur if biotechnology gains wide acceptance.

Contributor Bio:  Webber, David J DAVID J. WEBBER is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri-Columbia.