The Role of Technology Assessment in the Biotechnology Debate in Germany

As in other industrialised countries, Technology Assessment (TA) was introduced in Germany as an instrument to foresee the consequences and to mediate in conflicts of technological decisions. As a social scientist who has been working on biotechnology and as an activist in the political debate on that theme, I will focus my analysis on the transformation of the genetic engineering debate in Germany within the framework of TA. For social and environmental pressure groups TA might be a channel to address their claims. But on the other hand they might be absorbed in the labyrinths of the mere technical details without any political results. So I will also discuss criteria surrounding the question of whether or not they should participate in these procedures. The state of TA implementation in Germany The attempts to introduce TA in the German political arena have a long and somewhat tentative history. Inspired by the example of the US Office for Technology Assessment, members of the German Bundestag have been trying to establish a similar organisation since 1973 (Dierkes 1986). But until now no firm institutionalisation has been agree