Recombinant DNA Technology - ist Prospects for Fundamental Research an for Biotechnological Applications

Abstract

Recombinant DNA technology enables the investigator to insert any given gene into a vector DNA molecule which then can be propagated in an appropriate host cell. This makes it possible to efficiently study gene structure and function. The benefits from applications to fundamental as well as applied research are obvious. Attention is given here to ethical and environmental concerns with regard to such applications: 1) risks of introducing hybrid organisms with undesirable properties into the environment; 2) ethical barriers against attempts to transplant genes into human beings; 3) risks of abuse in the application of the methodology; 4) more general problems related to an undesirable increase in population density as a consequence of attempts to ameliorate human living conditions.