Consumers show concern over not-yet-feasible human cloning and, while they are somewhat unaware of the many drugs already available courtesy of biotechnology, they have unrealistic expectations for gene therapy, which is still far from clinical reality. "We're seeing a whole new awareness over the last 10 years," observes James Chamberlain, president and chief executive officer of Biosource International, a Camarillo, Calif.-based diagnostics company. "People are now more aware of the benefits of biotechnology than the inherent dangers. Fifteen years ago, everyone worried about recombinant organisms being released into the air, producing three-armed, one-legged people. Now we don't have those worries, but we do see public fear over the prospect of human cloning."
Thomas Hoban, a professor of sociology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, has tracked public attitudes toward biotechnology since the early 1990s. Dolly, the Scottish sheep whose cloning was announced in February 1997, coupled with a growing ...
