Like many genetic engineers, I have recently been receiving the atten tion of various venture capital companies, international drug houses and Members of Parliament. I will not discuss which of these approaches are most welcome, but it did cause me to consider the speed of advance in genetic engineering, and the implications of this rapid growth. There were few who anticipated it - only five years ago, most scientists thought applications would come at the end of the century, yet we see products such as insulin and interferon already available for clinical testing. In Europe in general and Britain in particular, this explosive growth in our own field has coincided with a general industrial depression and a marked reduction in funding for biomedical research. The brain drain from Britain is a serious matter, for we are losing the best of our younger scientists, on whom we would rely to train the next generation of molecular biologists. These volumes have come from British labs (mostly because I happen to be based in London, and my contacts and friends are here), and I feel that the quality of the con tributions also shows that our current research is of a high standard.