Lessons unlearned: How biotechnology is changing society

Abstract

The biotechnology industry possibly made errors of omission by in introducing their technologies without properly preparing all elements of the market: technology developers, government regulators, sellers, farmers, and consumers. In order to successfully introduce a revolutionary technology into society, many forces are needed as “sweepers” prepare the stakeholders to accept the technology. The biotechnology industry followed past practices in introducing new products, ignoring the unique features of genetic modification and the multifaceted concerns of a wide range of stakeholders it generated. As a result, agricultural biotechnology can be thought to have failed so far despite a few successes here and there.