Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
following year another meeting of the National Academies of Science
was dedicated to examining the potential biohazards of this new
technique (Berg et al., 1975). In reporting on the conference, it was
recognized that although it was impossible to anticipate what all the
possibilities of recombinant DNA might be, in the meantime a
graduated series of risk containment strategies should be put into
place (Berg et al., 1975). It was also recognized that the perceived
risks and the containment practices associated with them would
change over time as more knowledge was obtained through scientific
development (Berg et al., 1975). Since then, recombinant DNA
technologies have come to be widely used in a range of medical
applications.
Since the 1970s though, concern over potential biohazards created
by new biotechnologies has become a significant issue globally. In
addition to the use of recombinant DNA technology, some of the
topics that have been the focus of community debate, regulatory
challenges and safety evaluations include agricultural biotechnology
and genetically modified organisms (Levidow and Carr, 1997),
human genetics (Salter and Jones, 2002) and stem cell therapies. In
addition to the regulatory frameworks that seek to govern whether
or not certain kinds of research should be conducted, there are
parallel developments emerging around the best form of product
regulations designed to protect consumers. Government agencies in
North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific have responded to this
necessity, with a wide range of regulations governing the entrance of
new tissue and cell based products into the market in place
worldwide.
3.3 The intersection between commercialization and
innovation
Biotechnology has emerged as a core industry of the global
knowledge-based economy, a defining feature of which is its reliance
on knowledge-intensive activities (Powell and Snellman, 2004). The
preceding sections have shown how judicious management of
the innovation system to create favourable conditions for growth in
