Word: biotech
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...them mad or you just might find some unpleasant surprises in your next baked Idaho. After a run of bad press, biotech companies are taking the offensive to save face, not to mention profits, in a potentially explosive market. Friday's New York Times reports a surge of public relations maneuverings from a number of biotech giants, including Monsanto, Norvartiscoei and DuPont, to put a friendlier face on their modified- food crops here in the U.S. Opponents charge that by changing the makeup of foods to increase productivity or enhance favorable characteristics, the companies are forcing "Frankenstein" crops...
That may not be easy. Some scientists and consumer advocates charge that biotech companies have not proven their products are safe, citing studies showing lasting hazardous effects of genetically altered plants on the environment. And while some of the alarm surrounding modified foods may be overblown, as the biotech companies allege, consumers' deep-seated fears are not easily allayed. "Lots of people have a visceral, knee-jerk reaction to the idea of eating a rewired plant," says TIME science writer Jeffrey Kluger. "It's not uncommon to have second thoughts about eating a tomato that's been injected with flounder...
...capillaries. The idea behind this new class of drugs is that tumors cannot grow bigger than a few hundred thousand cells--about the size of a peppercorn--without growing their own blood-supply system. Researchers and patients, not to mention the owners of stock in half a dozen biotech companies, are eagerly awaiting results of clinical trials of antiangiogenic factors, which might be used in combination with chemotherapy to knock down big tumors and then prevent any surviving tumors from growing enough to do further damage...
...based on the principles of nuclear physics; the 21st century will see great weapons based on the knowledge of DNA and the genetic code. During the 1980s, the Soviet Union used rudimentary genetic engineering to create incurable strains of Black Death (bubonic plague) that were resistant to drugs. This biotech Black Death was loaded into missile warheads aimed at the U.S. As biotechnology becomes more supple and powerful and as the genetic code of more organisms is unraveled, biologists will learn how to mix genes of different bugs to create deadly, unnatural strains that can be turned into deadly, effective...
...intense research effort into new reproductive technologies. The most impressive technology of all was germ-line genetic engineering, which could be accomplished only by experts in human embryology, who were employed exclusively by private fertility clinics. The potential for profit was enormous, and financial support was easily obtained from biotech venture capitalists. Indeed, the unique American political-scientific-business environment boded well for global domination of the new field...