Biotechnology: New benefits, new questions

n the last 25 years, scientists have learned to modify I genetic material with increasing skill and refinement. Crossing ’the species barrier,’ scientists can now endow a bacterium, a sheep or a corn plant with virtually any gene from any organism. This possibility has raised ethical issues, especially for human gene manipulation; it has also yielded profound benefits, such as the reliable production of insulin by bacteria instead of from swine pancreas tissue.