Exam 2: The Political, Legal, and Technological Environment

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Biotechnology is the integration of science and technology, but more specifically it is the creation of agricultural or medical products through industrial use and manipulation of living organisms.One area in which it has been used is medicine.While pharmaceutical companies mainly manufacture drugs through a process similar to that of organic chemistry, biotech companies attempt to discover genetic abnormalities or medicinal solutions through exploring organisms at the molecular level or formulating compounds from inorganic materials that mirror organic substances.Another aspect of biotech research is geared toward agriculture.Demand for ethanol in the United States is on the rise due to questionable future oil supplies, which has shifted the focus to corn.Using corn as a fuel alternative will not only increase the cost of the good but also create an imbalance between consumable corn and stock used for biofuel.Apart from crops, the meat industry can also benefit from this process.The outbreak of mad cow disease in Great Britain sparked concern when evidence of the disease spread throughout Western Europe; however, the collaborative work of researchers in the United States and Japan may have engineered a solution to the problem by eliminating the gene which is the predecessor to making the animal susceptible to this ailment.Hunger and poor health care is a worldwide issue and advancement in global biotechnology is working to raise the standards.