Human Genetic Information: Science, Law and Ethics (review)

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS Human Genetic Information: Science, Law and Ethics. Ciba Foundation Symposium 149. Edited by D. Chadwick, G. Bock, and J. Whelen. Chichester: Wiley. Pp. 211. $63.50. Recent advances in genetic technology have reaffirmed the complex interrelationships between science, on the one hand, and law and ethics, on the other. Scientific discoveries, by their disciplined and sometimes serendipitous nature, often initiate cultural lags that can compromise the individual, the family, and society. This work will narrow this unavoidable gap. The book is the outgrowth of a symposium on genetic information held in June 1989 in Bern, Switzerland. The organizers and editors are to be congratulated for making the contributions available within a reasonably short time of the conference. Reviewers often first look at a multiauthored symposium for lack of cohesiveness, disconnected themes, repetition, contradictions. None of these deficiencies is here. The presentations are varied but to the point. Each paper is followed by extended discussions, many of which rival the superior quality of the primary contribution . Genetics, the genome, genetic technologies and their applications, psychiatric disorders, prenatal diagnosis, ethics, the law, possible commercial exploitation of the human genome, religious aspects of genetic information—all are here for the fortunate reader. With the exception of one scholar, the participants are from Europe or Japan, and one expatriate to the United States from Great Britain. But this is not a shortcoming. The papers were prepared with full knowledge of the ethical, legal, social, and public policy applications of genetic information that transcend international boundaries. But enough. This book is a welcome addition to the library of anyone interested in genetic information, science, law, and ethics—and not only scholars in these disciplines. The intelligent layperson will profit from this valuable contribution , and science writers will have a reliable basis on which to judge the rapid and exciting advances in the field of human genetics. James E. Bowman Department of Pathology University of Chicago Permission to reprint a book review printed in this section may be obtained only from the author. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 35, 1 ¦ Autumn 1991 155 ...