Biotechnics and Society: The Rise of Industrial Genetics.

Out of the lab, into the marketplace

In the 1980s, biotechnology came out of the laboratory and into the marketplace, precipitating much debte. In Biotechnology and Society, Sheldon Krimsky surveys how the debate has evolved in the United States, and proposes a model to evaluate biotechnology from a perspective which validates the opinion of people wth different interests.

His book works on two levels: it explains how one country has handled the risks and potential of biotechnology and also provides an excellent overview of pertinent issues in technology assessment.

Krimsky, a professor of Urban and Environmental Policy at Tufts University, has advised several US government agencies on bioethics and the use of recombinant DNA technology. He …