Editorial - International Biotechnology: Diplomacy, Policy and Statesmanship

The practice of biotechnology varies worldwide in style, scale and substance. Moreover, the practice of the traditional and modern biotechnologies reveals shared histories with specific peoples and cultures. The various types of biotechnology encountered in different regions vary, in range, from the traditional panary and wine fermentations to the bio-industrial production of amino acids and antibiotics, and more recently, to the modern-day development of bio-pharmaceuticals and gene pharming. The industrialized countries, engaged in frontier-area research in the agricultural, environmental, legal and socio-ethical aspects of biotechnology, are encountered at one end of the global spectrum of biotechnology. At the other end of the arc are to be found the group of the least developed and small island countries. These economically disadvantaged countries draw upon traditional knowledge to manage and preserve their environments and to meet, to the extent possible, the food and health requirements of their peoples. Between these two groups four other broad clusters of countries occur. These are the arid land developing countries that are endowed with a natural resource of high export significance ---oil; the developing countries that are in transition to development and market-oriented economies; the advancing developing countries that are characterized with proven scientific infrastructure, peer-reviewed research and outputs such as technical publications, patents, and established protocols of governance and policy in private and public sector biotech; and the advanced developing countries generally accepted worldwide as the newly industrialized countries, and which have proven bioindustrial capability and new market economies