But the market for new technologies is global. In 1995, Europe's pharmaceutical giants alone invested more than 3 billion ECU in US biotechnology firms. The word refers to any technique using naturally occurring organisms, their cells and their products, to create useful substances or effects. It draws on scientific expertise in the fields of biology, biochemistry, genetics, microbiology and biochemical engineering. Recombinant DNA technology, one of biotechnology's basic tools, uses enzymes to remove specific genetic information from one organism and transfer it to another.
Some people believe it does.
Others see no difference between today's techniques and traditional methods of genetic manipulation - and believe that the costs and risks should be weighed rationally against the huge benefits. In Europe, public mistrust of biotechnology, far greater than that in the US, constitutes a real constraint on the commercialisation of its products. The application of biotechnology in the search for new cancer treatments or a malaria vaccine is generally welcomed, for example. EuropaBio, representing industrial players, has recently adopted a set of Core Ethical Values. But the polarised views of farmers, food distributors and consumer groups continue to hamper the development of a clear EU policy on the labelling of GM foods.