Biotechnology

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Biotechnology is the use of living organisms, cells, or biological systems to develop products or processes that improve human life and the environment.

It combines principles from biology, chemistry, and engineering to create innovations in various fields, such as medicine, agriculture, and environmental sciencIn a nutshell, biotechnology can be summarized as follows:

1. Medical Biotechnology

  • Recombinant Insulin: Genetically engineered bacteria produce insulin for diabetes treatment, providing a reliable source for patients.
  • Monoclonal Antibodies: Developed for targeted therapies in cancer treatment and autoimmune diseases (e.g., trastuzumab for breast cancer).
  • Gene Therapy: Techniques to treat genetic disorders by inserting healthy genes into a patient’s cells (e.g., treatments for spinal muscular atrophy).

2. Agricultural Biotechnology

  • Bt Crops: Genetically modified crops (like corn and cotton) that produce a toxin from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis to resist insect pests.
  • Herbicide-Resistant Crops: Crops engineered to withstand certain herbicides, allowing farmers to control weeds without damaging their crops (e.g., Roundup Ready soybeans).
  • Golden Rice: Genetically engineered rice that produces beta-carotene, addressing vitamin A deficiency in some populations.

3. Industrial Biotechnology

  • Enzyme Production: Use of enzymes in the production of biofuels, detergents, and food processing (e.g., amylase in baking).
  • Bioplastics: Development of biodegradable plastics from renewable biological materials (e.g., polylactic acid from corn starch).
  • Bioremediation: Use of microorganisms to clean up contaminated environments, such as oil spills.

4. Environmental Biotechnology

  • Wastewater Treatment: Biological processes that use bacteria to break down contaminants in wastewater before it is released into the environment.
  • Biofuels from Algae: Algae are cultivated to produce biodiesel and bioethanol, offering a sustainable energy source.

  • The promise of biotechnology,  set of revolutionary techniques, has been the subject of public policy aspirations for the last two decades.

  • In a call tempered by realism and caution, Agenda 21, the work programme adopted by the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, asserted that bio-technology:promises to make a significant contribution in enabling the development of, for example, better health care, enhanced food security through sustainable agricultural practices, improved supplies of potable water, more efficient industrial development processes for transforming raw materials, support for sustainable methods of afforestation and reforestation and detoxification of hazardous wastes. (UN, 1992, p136)

  • The decade following the adoption of these commitments has shown little progress in the application of biotechnology in the developing world despite visions of a promising future.? Instead, the international community has devoted considerable resources to managing perceptions of biotechnology risks rather than exploring new opportunities for its use (Pardo et al, 2002).

  • Despite this, a careful examination reveals biotechnology inroads into nearly all major fields of human endeavour (Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, 2001). It is now a decade since world leaders signed Agenda 21. Since then, three major developments have occurred. 

  • First, the institutions of globalization that were being crafted at the time of the adoption of Agenda 21 are now in place and their influence on the international trading system has become a subject of considerable debate. Second, biotechnology products have made their debut on the international market and it is now possible to assess the performance of biotechnology in the global economy.

  • Third, advances in biology (especially molecular biology) signal the prospect of a new generation of products and services that were not conceivable a decade ago.

  • Biotechnology makes possible the personalized treatments and genetic modification of plants and ani-mals. Nanotechnology is used in water purification, battery storage, precise management of agrochemicals, and in the delivery of medication.

    • Renewable energy technologies provide electricity in rural areas far from the grid systems, 

    • Drones are used in precision farming and could revolutionize the delivery of supplies and replace humans in dangerous tasks.

    • Small-scale satellites are used in communication networks and in applications that use high-resolution imagery in areas such as for monitoring land use and for urban planning.

    • These satellites may soon become affordable for more developing countries, businesses and universities. 

  • Blockchain technology can be used in applications in which ensuring the integrity and traceability of the information about transactions is important, such as those in smart contracts, digital identity systems, land regis-tration, and financial transactions.

  • Many developing countries are already using these technologies, even in conditions of low resources and capabilities.

  • For example, during a typhoid outbreak in Uganda, the Ministry of Health used data-mapping applications to allocate medicine and mobilize health care teams. In India, the Crop.

  • The start-up has developed a vegetation index using satellite images that provides support to farmers in ensuring crop health.  

  • In Bangladesh, IoT is being used to assess groundwater chemistry and protect the people in the Ganges Delta who face the threat of drinking groundwater contaminated with arsenic.In Rwanda, the Government partnered with Zipline, a robotics company, to address maternal mortality by using drones to deliver blood to medical facilities, reducing the time it takes to procure blood from 4 hours to 15 minutes.


 


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