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Abstract: Just a few years into the twenty-first century, it is already being described as the century of the gene. Advances in genetics will have major medical, economic, ethical, political, and personal implications that will affect every segment and aspect of society. Environmental policy will not be exempt from this revolution, and will almost certainly be radically transformed by new genetic technologies. Consider some of the genetic advances predicted for the next couple decades. Dr. Francis Collins, director of the Humane Genome project, predicts that testing for genetic predispositions will become standard practice, and individualized preventive medicine will be available based on those genetic susceptibilities. Dr. French Anderson, a leading expert on gene therapy, predicts that by 2030 gene therapy will be available for essentially every disease. Moreover, he predicts that gene therapy will also be used to prevent future disease by altering individual genetic weaknesses affecting our susceptibility to disease. Many of these genetic advances will have direct applications to environmental protection and increasing relevance in a world of higher resource productivity described by many of the authors in this volume. Four potential scenarios demonstrating how genetics might affect environmental policy are presented below.
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