The domination of scientific research by corporate interests is at the core of most anxieties about biotechnology. The rush to patent and the reluctance to label only add to the perception that companies are greedy and untrustworthy, despite protests from business and other interests that patents are needed to protect large investments and that labels are not meaningful.

The huge scope of the social issues and their ramifications have been dealt with in more detail in some of the publications I've listed for further reading. I believe that many public anxieties about biotechnology are misplaced and are best addressed by more education. Others have merit and must be dealt with by more stringent public controls and monitoring of industry. In most cases, however, the only honest conclusion possible is to concede that time alone will tell the truth of the matter.

Perhaps the greatest potential tragedy of all in this story is that the squabbling factions now fighting to control the body of science and technology may end up tearing it apart. Our researchers' and technologists' abundant skills and energy may be frittered away, like so many once-plentiful resources in recent times, and we will find ourselves in the painfully ironic situation of being able to solve our world's desperate problems in theory, but not in practice.

I must conclude by making a special plea for the role of scientists and science education in public policy. Freedom to explore is fundamental to the progress of science. That freedom is threatened today by a number of sources, from the narrow agenda of companies, to government indifference and cutbacks, to public skepticism, fear, and lack of support. If, as I believe, the truth will out, it can only do so if the pattern of scientific research is not distorted by one vested interest or another.