Overview of the project

The Growth of Biotechnology

Biotechnology was developed as a new technology in the 1970s and launched with exuberant visions, in the 1980s. By the beginning of the twenty first century, many thousands of patents on 'forms of life' have been granted, and a wide range of bio-medical and agri-food applications of biotechnology have been introduced. The pace of biotechnological research and development and the range of applications continue to accelerate. With the completion of the sequencing of the human genome, proteomics is now the focus of basic research. The breakthrough of nucleic tranfer for cloning that led to 'Dolly the sheep' has been found to be inefficient and new techniques of stem cell cloning developed. Genetic testing is bringing the genetic information society closer as forensic, insurance and other uses of gene banks are identified. Transgenic animals are now ready for xenotransplantation and in the pharmaceutical and agricultural areas modern biotechnology continues to revolutionise traditional methods.

As biotechnology lives up to its early description as a strategic technology it is impacting on many areas of contemporary life. As such it has initiated a number of debates and been sucked into others. Perhaps the central debates have been around regulation, safety and the moral status of particular applications of modern biotechnology. Beyond these biotechnology enters into discussions about world trade, intellectual property rights and trade, the patenting of life forms, privacy and the uses of genetic information, the funding of research and development, the role of science in society, public participation in science and technology, animal rights, biodiversity and environmental conservation, the future of the Common Agricultural Policy, organic farming, agriculture in the third world, the vertical integration of the food chain and global capitalism, consumer safety, product labelling and source identification and the risk society to name but a few. Biotechnology it seems has become a platform for discussions and conflicts over a wide range of issues, involving many stakeholders.

What is LSES?

Life Sciences in European Society (LSES) is a collaborative research network of social scientists brought together to investigate biotechnology and its interface with the public. The project is funded under the European Commission 5th Framework: Contract QLRT - 1999-00286. There are 19 participating laboratories in fourteen European countries (Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Netherlands), with associated laboratories in the USA and Canada. The principal researchers and members of the project can be found in the 'Who's who' page.

The structure of the project

Designed and conducted as an international and comparative project, the research is organised as three modules: policy and regulation, mass media coverage, and public perceptions. Each of these modules has been addressed at national level and then compared. Building on the data from these modules, twelve case studies are being conducted, analysing key themes in the life sciences in Europe. Each theme explored in a case study combines one or more specific application of modern life sciences (eg GM novel foods) and one structural issue (eg the institutionalisation of bio-ethics).

Publications

Group-authored articles:

Gaskell, G. et al, 'Europe ambivalent on biotechnology', Nature 387, 845-847 (1997).

Gaskell, G. et al., 'Biotechnology and the European public', Nature Biotechnology 18, 935-938 (2000).

The group has also published two books, with a third in press:

Biotechnology in the Public Sphere- a European Sourcebook, 1998, edited by John Durant, Martin W Bauer and George Gaskell (London: Science Museum);

Biotechnology 1996 - 1999: the years of controversy, 2001, edited by George Gaskell and Martin W Bauer (London: Science Museum);

Biotechnology: the making of a global controversy, edited by Martin W Bauer and George Gaskell (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) in press.

Project members have published many articles on biotechnology issues. Please see the 'Who's who' pages for details. At some point soon we will be producing a complete bibliography, regularly updated.