Molecular Politics: Developing American and British Regulatory Policy for Genetic Engineering, 1972–1982 by Susan Wright

Abstract

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 397 method? What constitutes evidence of harm or safety? When science and technology did not provide simple, unequivocal answers to these questions, nonscientists entered the arena with their own interpreta­ tions of the evidence. At regulatory hearings, in the courts, in the halls of Congress, and in the media, a multitude of interested par­ ties—including consumers, beef producers, and government offi­ cials—participated in the debates. A short review can only suggest the depth of research presented in Cancerfrom Beef Marcus’s text describes the scientific and techno­ logical disputes over the use of DES from the 1950s into the 1980s, the procedural maneuvers used by regulatory agencies such as the FDA, and the court battles mounted over the use of DES in cattle feed. It enumerates the shifting allegiances within the scientific com­ munity and among scientists, feed and pharmaceutical companies, and regulators. The analysis is so dense that at times it is difficult to follow the line of argumentation. And, even with its wealth of data, the book is in the end unsatis­ fying. Marcus is so intent on documenting the “lost reverence” (p. 151) for experts and expertise that he does not address the im­ portant issue of how one should choose among competing claims to scientific and technological authority. Scientists who disagreed with Burroughs are relegated to the margins ofthe scientific commu­ nity; consumers who resisted DES-fed cattle are considered dupes of false science. It is important that we understand the people and the powers that introduced DES into the American food supply, but we will only understand its rise and fall when we have a fuller, more balanced analysis of all the participants in the debate. Rima D. Apple Dr. Apple holds ajoint appointment in the Department of Consumer Science and the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. She is the author of Vitamania: Vitamins in American Culture (New Brunswick, N.J., 1996). Molecular Politics: Developing American and British Regulatory Policy for GeneticEngineering, 1972—1982. By Susan Wright. Chicago: Univer­ sity of Chicago Press, 1994. Pp. xxii+591, tables, notes, appen­ dixes, bibliography, index. $75.00 (cloth); $29.95 (paper). To those who lived through the formation of molecular biology policy during the 1970s, it seemed that here was history in the mak­ ing. Journalists, speculators, and scientists alike assured the public of an imminent discontinuity akin to the atomic revolution. Just as once the energy constraints on humanity had seemed about to be overcome, so now disease would be defeated. The fear of bacterial diseases had been dissipated by the antibiotics developed since World War II. Now viruses and genetically inherited disorders would 398 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE be defeated. This time, however, scientists would get it right and would eschew the hubris of which they had once been accused. Another industrial revolution was widely expected in the wake of this new science, one that would keep the victors of World War II on top. It might also be a new type of revolution—sensitive to the needs of the environment, workers, and consumers. Nonetheless, the urge for national competitiveness strengthened through the late 1970s. By 1980 the dreams of a new kind of science were dashed; earlier fears were reinterpreted, and many of the regulations were nullified. Part 1 of MolecularPolitics captures what is clearly considered back­ ground, beginning with a treatment of the changing policy environ­ ment of science from the 1960s to the early 1980s. It traces the de­ clining authority of the autonomous view of science, at first because ofenvironmental and moral concerns and later because ofindustrial and commercial demands. Then the growing commercial aspira­ tions based on biotechnology are described in a conventional fash­ ion. Parts 2, 3, and 4 deal with the initiation of controls, whereas part 5, which contains the most original and powerful chapters, rec­ ords their dismantling. Although reference is made to later dates, the volume really concludes with the situation reached by 1982. Many books have been published on themes covered here. The erection of controls in the early 1970s has been particularly well doc­ umented and so has the growth of...