" Production of valuable
products by using biological systems is biotechnology. "
From centuries, man has been producing wines, cheese, vinegar,
bread, curd, yogurt, and a host of other products. This
technology has collectively been referred
under the umbrella term "Microbial / fermentation technology". Since the
early 1980s, with the advent of ' genetic engineering ', the term biotechnology
has been used more commonly. Here, the genetic potential of the organisms is
harnessed towards the formation of numerous valuable products in the ways that
could not be even conceived earlier. Suddenly, obtaining large amounts of the
hormone Insulin, or growth hormone, or interferon etc., in highly purified
forms, was not a problem any more. Such is the impact of 'biotechnology' on
humankind
that this term is now used routinely even outside the laboratories, i.e. in
media, households, social gatherings, business meetings, agriculture farms,
health clinics
and practically everywhere. It is now believed that Biotechnology will be the
most dominating discipline in the present century.