to displace local cultivators from traditional agricultural practices to create nature reserves that can produce botanicals for world markets (Isla, 2000). Another consideration about plant-based production is that, although biochemicals tend to be more benign than petrochemicals, they are not necessarily so. Biochemicals that are chemically identical to petrochemicals, and which do just as much damage, can be made. The impact of biochemicals depends on how the substitution is made. The most benign substitutions tend to be ones that use chemically dissimilar substances to achieve a similar purpose. A biochemical, for example, might be substituted for a petrochemical substance in a synthetic dye. Or, better, a completely natural plant-derived dye might be used. Or, most ecologically, a certain strain of coloured organic cotton could be used that makes any dyenatural or synthetic unnecessary. The proper development of bio-based materials depends on a non-exploitative attitude to nature. While the processes of biosynthesis, biodegradation and biomimetics have great ecological potential, they also have great potential for abuseas is currently taking place in related forms of bioengineering like genetic engineering. Some of the earliest applications of biochemical fermentation were in explosives production. Bacterial leaching (biodegradation) is used in the mining industry. The U.S. Dept. of Defence and the auto industry are major supporters of biomimetic research into superstrong materials (Geiser, 2001, p. 290, 293). Thus many of these end-uses are questionable. Perhaps most disturbing is the role of genetic engineering to manipulate natural processes in new and untried ways, unbounded by natural precedents, that threaten whole