Evolving Product Concepts: Pharmaceuticals,
Agriceuticals, and Fibers
Many of the aforementioned topics elicit changes to product concepts traditionally
produced by natural and artificial substances. Some medicines, such as insulin, soon
will be extracted from genetically modified plants; new strains of rice will include
vitamin A and probably other nutrients; some expensive medicines will become
available at low prices when they are extracted from the milk of cows or other
mammals. Ongoing revelations suggest that many new medicines will emerge from
discoveries in the rainforests and the oceans, largely untapped and promising
reservoirs of natural flora and fauna which can be parlayed into health benefits. The
anticipated medical outcomes position rainforest and ocean preservation as critical
both to biosphere protection and financial gain.