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Biotechnology, the use of living organisms to manufacture pharmaceuticals and other products and to promote industrial processes. Microbes, such as bacteria, and fungi were first harnessed in this way, followed by plants and most recently by animals. "Old" biotechnology includes well-established microbial processes such as brewing, sewage disposal, and the production of antibiotics. However, the term has become particularly familiar since the development of genetic engineering during the 1970s. Much "new" biotechnology uses organisms genetically altered to work more effectively than before, or to function in entirely new ways. Origins of Biotechnology The oldest examples of what we now call biotechnology are the manufacture of beer, wine, and other alcoholic beverages. Many societies in the distant past discovered that sugary and starchy materials sometimes changed spontaneously, generating alcohol. The phenomenon was gradually brought under conscious control and in the 19th century the French chemist Louis Pasteur showed that fermentation was...

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