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As an elected official or policymaker, you want to provide informed
responses to your constituents’ toughest questions about health, environmental and economic
problems.
This online booklet can help you provide those answers.
Most people in your constituency — and across America — are keenly interested in biotechnology. In
fact, a majority already understand that biotechnology generates solutions for problems like cancer,
hunger and pollution. Biotechnology may be only 30 years old, but it is already delivering on its
promise, providing hundreds of new medicines and diagnostics, as well as improved foods and
technologies that make manufacturing cleaner and more efficient.
Along the way, the industry has been growing at double-digit
rates annually and creating tens of thousands of well-paying
new jobs.
Although nations around the world are now cultivating
biotechnology research and development, the United States
remains the leader, accounting for more than three-fourths of
biotech products and revenues worldwide. And with hundreds
of new products in development, the American biotechnology
industry is poised for long-term leadership.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is biotechnology?
Biotechnology
is the use of biological processes to solve problems or make useful products.
Just what kinds of processes are involved?
DNA is
at the center of almost all of these biological processes.
Many biotech products are made by inserting the DNA for a
desired protein — say, a medicine or an enzyme needed for
manufacturing — into cells that then make the protein under
controlled conditions.
Who regulates biotechnology?
The Food
and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the United States
Department of Agriculture. All have established regulations for biotechnology.
This technology is used safely in every U.S. state, and hundreds of biotechnology
products are on the market. Even highschool students use these techniques in biology labs.
Biotech is exciting, but isn’t it just a niche sector in the economy?
No. As an industry, American biotech is growing at doubledigit rates annually, generating
sales of more than $50 billion per year. In addition to hundreds of cutting-edge medical
products, biotechnology is used to make such everyday products as cheese, laundry detergent
and paper. Plus, 81 percent of U.S. soybean acreage and 73 percent of its cotton are enhanced
through biotechnology to increase yields for farmers while reducing costs.
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