Introduction

Abstract

The following material reflects the perceptions of various professional groups involved, in one way or another, in the production or commercialization of transgenic animals. The opinions of these groups, although complex, are also comprehensible given their roles. Far more intricate are the perspectives of those who are passive, and sometimes unwilling, recipients of this new technology. For our purposes, this amorphous group of the “public” can be divided into three subgroups: (a) producers of transgenic livestock (i.e. farmers); (b) users of products of transgenic livestock (i.e. agribusiness); and (c) the public, which opposes, on moral or ethical grounds, the extension of patents to this class of living organisms.