The Biotech Century: Harnessing the Gene and Remaking the World - Softcover

Rifkin, Jeremy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 087477909X ISBN 13: 9780874779097

Publisher: Tarcher, 1998

Synopsis

A thorough account of what is currently possible as well as what is in development in the fields of biochips, cloning, and genetic mapping also discusses how these discoveries are already changing the future of humankind. 30,000 first printing.

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Reviews

We are poised on the brink of a revolution of unparalleled real-life impact, argues Rifkin in this impassioned, erudite and well-reasoned study. Already, recombinant DNA techniques, computer gene-mapping and the globalization of commerce have begun to reshape life: the cloning of mammals for inexpensive pharmaceuticals is but one example. Though he does not dispute the promised benefits of biotechnology, Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and author of The End of Work and many other trend-tracking books, warns that we must closely consider its possible (and often little-publicized) negative consequences. A technology that can find genetic sources of disease, for example, can also lead to widespread acceptance of eugenic practices; techniques for genetically altering crops and animals to improve food sources could just as easily be used to create customized biological weapons. ("Scientists say they may be able to clone selective toxins to eliminate specific racial or ethnic groups whose genotypical makeup predispose them to certain disease patterns," Rifkin warns.) Biotechnology has the capacity to deplete, rather than enhance, Earth's gene pool and irreparably damage ecological balance, according to Rifkin, and it may transform our conceptions of nature and of life itself. Just as the Industrial Revolution caused unexpected problems such as depletion of natural resources, overpopulation, economic injustice and pollution, so the Biotech Revolution will inevitably cause problems we cannot yet imagine, Rifkin contends, especially if we fail to educate ourselves about the nature of biotechnology and neglect to make careful decisions about how it should best be used. This wide-ranging and deeply intelligent analysis is an excellent first step. 50,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Scattershot doomsaying from a noted alarmist. Rifkin (The End of Work, 1994; Beyond Belief, 1991, etc.) prophesies a future conditioned by genetic engineering and biotechnology, in which whole speciesours includedhave been eugenically remade for maximum commercial potential as part of a new ``artificially produced bioindustrial nature designed to replace natures own evolutionary scheme.'' He has a point; after all, gene prospecting and biotech startups remain hot growth areas for venture capitalists, and inasmuch as Western Europeans and Americans spend billions on mood- and physique-enhancing substances and procedures, there's no reason to think they wouldn't pump money into, say, using ``genetic therapies to enhance their unborn children.'' Rifkin is no doubt correct in worrying, too, about the effects of organisms genetically modified for profit, which may host killer viruses and yield unforeseen plagues. But he errs in viewing this brave new world as imminent and as given, when in fact the future is unwritten; he doesnt account, for instance, for the recent widespread public outcry against human-cloning experiments, which has led several heads of state to propose bans on such mad-science tinkering. More problematic is the fact that Rifkin does not make his argument well; he darts about from one set of rhetorical questions to the next, answering them to his own satisfaction with a flurry of data that are not always to the point. The book reads, as a result, more like a stack of debater's three-by-five cards than a coherent narrative, which does nothing to further Rifkin's argumentwhich, in simplest terms, can be reduced to Joyce Kilmer's observation that ``only God can make a tree.'' Readers willing to brave his messy exposition will find food for thought in Rifkin's book, but getting to it requires a lot of work. (First printing of 50,000; author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Social and environmental gadfly Rifkin gives an excellent critical analysis of the use of biotechnology, particularly regarding the commercial forces at work. Essential for all libraries. (LJ 3/15/98)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rifkin, author most recently of The End of Work (1994), is a seer, a lucid and well-informed writer devoted to helping us become aware of the titanic impact of technology and the corporate imperative, a cognizance that has never been more urgent. The convergence of the computer revolution and the rapid evolution of genetic engineering is making it possible for people to tinker with the very essence of life. There are benefits to these new capabilities, but the risks are so enormous as to be almost incomprehensible. In a comprehensive treatment of the biotech movement and its transformation of medicine and agriculture, Rifkin illuminates both its impressive science and its insidious commercialization. Global corporations seeking to bypass nature, not only to eradicate disease but to fashion "designer" plants, animals, and even human beings, are raiding the now limited gene pools of tropical countries, securing patents on genetic strains and body parts, and paving the way for the threat of genetic pollution and a new form of eugenics, all radical and hubristic endeavors that must be carefully assessed and debated, a dialogue Rifkin has advanced tenfold here. Donna Seaman

Edition details

• Publisher: Tarcher
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 087477909X
• ISBN 13: 9780874779097
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 271