The Biotech Century (Book Review)

Jeremy Rifkin, long known as a pundit against the biotech industry, and author of books like Declaration of a Heretic and Who Should Play God? continues to rail against the "thoughtless" biotech industry in his latest book The Biotech Century . And while he raises some very salient points, there are flaws to the arguement. Click below for more.

Let's all be honest here-Rifkin is a smart puppy. He has done his research, and in the all years of lawsuits against biotech companies and raising public consciousness about the biotech industry, he has done good.

This book is especially well done in that respect, raising the issue of human gene therapy going so far to say "The new genetic technologies grant us a godlike power to select the biological futures and features of the many beings who come after us-the greatest shopping experience of all time." Very true-but also misses the point.

It is very easy to decry the biotech industry. The potential for harm is great, and the human sensitivity to this most private part of a beings is great. Rifkin raises the issue that many biotech scientists seem to view our DNA as source code, just there to be modified and recompilied for newer versions. And the abuse of the power must be avoided-no senseless manipulation playing in a field that we don't truly understand yet. But this is an area that research must continue forward in. Rifkin has toned down some of his older impassioned speechs against gene therapy of the past, but he challenges us to engage in "a great conversation" without giving any specific solutions.

He carefully steps around the precarious area of gene therapy that will the most hope-being able to fix things like CF, while focusing on environmental areas which might cause a disaster, a very politic approach. This scattershot approach does not serve him well. While he raises many fine issues, I find that I must at base disagee with him. Grab this book over at Amazon.