One of the problems in discussing "biotechnology" or "genetic engineering" is a definition of the subject matter. A U.S. Office of Technology Assessment definition of biotechnology was "any technique that uses living organisms (or parts of organisms) to make or modify products, to improve plants or animals, or to develop microorganisms for specific uses."¹ Genetic engineering could apply to any process that results in the derivation of living things which are genetically suited for some application. With these definitions, biotechnology and genetic engineering are not things that have come up in the last decade or even in the last century. These definitions include virtually all of agriculture, which is based on use of plants and animals for particular applications. Through selective breeding, modern agriculture has "engineered" plant and animal species to be very different from their naturally evolved ancestors. Biotechnology would have to include fermentation to produce alcoholic beverages. Genetic engineering would include derivation of microbial cultures that produce practical levels of antibiotics.

When someone speaks of biotechnology or genetic engineering in 1988, they are usually not referring to selective breeding of plants and animals, or the brewing industry. The terms are most often used for applications of recombinant DNA technology, and that would appear to be the major theme of this conference. Recombinant DNA is an idea that developed in the 1970s as tools for manipulation of DNA became more powerful than ever before. The result is that "genetic engineering," although in principle nothing new, became more rapid and more precise than it had been in the past.