It’s a real shame that genetic labs don’t get the funding that the nuclear labs got during the cold war.  See RACE FOR GENETICS  Geneticists, like all other professionals, work to make money.  It would be more helpful to the human race if they could make the same amount of money for the work they do that would benefit everyone.  However, the scientists have to work for where there is a wealthy market, not necessarily where the greatest problem is.  It would be very practical for geneticists to make new variations of corn and wheat that could produce more rapidly and with more gross product, (like corn plants that produced 6 ears or corn), but the greatest market for these plants where they would be most needed and applicable would be poor third world countries.  It is obvious that there is no money to be made out of poor countries.  However, the market is big for ripe, firm tomatoes, with middle class Americans who would be willing to pay for them.  In this case, the same engineer would put his time into removing the gene that makes the enzyme in tomatoes that break themselves down after they are picked.  Without that gene, tomatoes last much longer and stay firmer longer after they are picked.

        As far as the human perspective is concerned, this does not help society as much as corn with six ears would, but it makes that individual engineer or group of scientists more of a profit.  There are cases, however, where money and practicality meet.  Before insulin for diabetics could be produced in the lab, a diabetic person had two choices; inject themselves with pig insulin, or die.  Eventually, that person’s body would reject the pig insulin, and they would be forced to inject, let’s say, cow insulin, until their body rejected that.  Thanks to genetic engineering, scientists are able to splice the human gene that codes for the production of insulin with bacteria that can mass-produce it in biochemical labs.  This technology has saved many lives, as well as being profitable.  Chances are that if the leaders of some countries, the Lovins’, and Bill Joy were hardcore diabetic, they would be a bit more reluctant to protest genetic engineering.