Gilbert S. Omenn Dean, School of Public Health and Community Medicine University of Washington Seattle, Washington 98195 On behalf of the University of Washington , the City of Seattle, the Steering Committee, and the sponsoring agencies, corporations, and organ­ izations, I welcome you. \Ve all expect this Conference to stimulate further what is becoming an important application of biotechnology in an area in which our society experiences considerable frustration and gloom: the management of hazardous wastes. It is an all-too-frequent refrain that technology has its benefits and its risks. To many--in the lay pUblic, at least--the damaging notion has taken hold that we are capable of