Based on history, one could have legitimately predicted that the United Kingdom would be among the world's leaders in developing biotechnology today. Instead, the U.K. is known worldwide as the nation most responsible for impeding introduction of this technology. Biotechnology can improve nutrition among developing nations. It can help fight disease by delivering vaccines in common foods such as bananas. It can improve crop yields, thus preventing natural areas from being converted to agriculture to meet global food demand, and it can drastically reduce the use of chemical pesticides.
Biotechnology has the potential to save and improve millions of lives worldwide.
Certainly not Jenner, the 18th century physician who discovered the vaccine that eventually eradicated smallpox. By injecting a cattle virus into people, he prevented them from getting the disease. His work set the course for the science of immunology, which could be further advanced through plant biotechnology. The three received the 1962 Nobel Prize for their discoveries, which are the basis for all genetics research. Sir Alexander Fleming, a British bacteriologist, discovered lysozyme and penicillin.