GENETIC ENGINEERING IS NOT BIOTECHNOLOGY:

Biotechnology has been used for years in the making of beer and wine, bread and cheese. It involves using living substances such as yeast which are known to set off certain reactions. Yeast turns sugar into alcohol, for example, a natural effect which has been harnessed for many benefits. The development of new species of flowers and animals through cross breeding of one dog with another, for example, or one flower with another is also based on the normal rules of nature, and called biotechnology. In nature it is perfectly possible for organisms within the same species to cross breed, but breeding between completely unrelated species is not possible.

Greenpeace is NOT opposed to biotechnology. But genetic scientists are now trying to hijack the word. Because it's an accepted term, relating to something which is natural, they are now trying to apply it to genetic engineering. Just because the genetic engineering industry is working with genes from living organisms it doesn't mean its work is biotechnology.

Biotechnology has never involved crossing one species with a totally unrelated species. It has never involved any interference with DNA - the substance holding the blueprint of the characteristics of a living organism. No DNA has even been added or taken away with traditional biotechnology.

Genetic Engineering also known as recombinant or r-DNA technology, is fundamentally different from biotechnology. The manipulation of organisms at cellular level to produce altered organisms with whatever traits we desire is not at all natural. Genetic scientists can cut out bits of a living organism's DNA, called genes, and splice them into totally unrelated species. Animal genes are going into plants, bacteria genes into food crops, and even human genes are being used to change animals and plants. The introduced genes can destroy or influence the activity of other genes, so a completely new organism is created whose responses in the environment are unpredictable.

Greenpeace IS opposed to genetic engineering. It is the exact opposite of biotechnology. It is not natural for one species to cross breed with a completely unrelated species, or for genetic material to exchange between unrelated species. Genetic engineering changes nature rather than using it's own power. The genetic industry is doing more than cross-breeding, it's manipulating life in ways that could never occur naturally, and taking control of evolution itself.