The colors of biotechnology

In an effort to simplify didactics and rationalization, it was proposed and accepted to order the wide variety of existing biotechnologies according to a color code. This classification, which has been in use for some years now and includes all the corresponding bioprocesses (most of which are recent or relatively recent, and should therefore be classed as neo-bioprocesses), is based on five colors. The colors are as follows:

• red biotechnologies concern the health sector, for which there are generally no particular problems of public acceptance (except with regard to ethical issues);

• Green biotechnologies include plant transgenesis (GMOs), which are the focus of reservations linked to the risks of uncontrolled gene dissemination;

• white biotechnologies, in a context of sustainable...