From Publishers Weekly
This is the most disturbing and damning report to date on the biotechnology revolution and its ethical and social consequences and risks. Kimbrell, policy director of the Foundation of Economic Trends in Washington, D.C., first looks at a new multibillion-dollar industry involving the manipulation and marketing of blood, organs and fetal parts. He then moves on to the patenting of genetically engineered animals and even of human "products" (e.g., cells and genes) and the selling of human reproductive materials. He condemns surrogate motherhood as a form of "bioslavery," and warns of the high ethical price of the new eugenics. Extrapolating from current trends, Kimbrell ominously predicts the genetic engineering of workers to enhance productive traits and the cloning of humans in the coming decades. His sane prescriptions for restricting the engineering and marketing of life cap his scary, Orwellian glimpse into a new biofuture. Photos. $25,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Given the title here, as well as the foreword by Jeremy Rifkin (biotechnology's most ardent antagonist), readers are well advised concerning the content of this polemic by the policy director of Rifkin's Foundation on Economic Trends. Like Ruth Hubbard and Elijah Wald in Exploding the Gene Myth (reviewed above), Kimbrell rings the alarm against genetic R&D and, in general, the ``commodification'' of the body--the commercial traffic in human body parts. But unlike Hubbard-Wald, Kimbrell inveighs against all forms of buying and selling--including blood donations, organ transplants, artificial insemination, and surrogate motherhood. The author relates sad tales of exploitation of the poor for the benefit of the rich, together with some truly horrendous accounts of the trials and failures of infertile couples to achieve parenthood (raising a question about the extent to which humans will submit to such ordeals). The case is well and truly made for regulating, if not banning, the baby-broker business and assorted in-vitro fertilization laboratories. Elsewhere, however, we find researchers considered no better than exploiters and fast- buck artists out to use fetuses as transplant material or to produce babies to order--assuming, as Kimbrell does, that it's only a matter of time before genes for IQ or beauty will be found. The author concludes with a philosophical review that finds Descartes the culprit in reducing bodies to machines and that extols the virtue of gift-giving and reverence for the body. Kimbrell sends a meaningful message--but at the price of dismissing any good to come from genetics research in favor of pietistic nay-saying. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
Details the degradation of human life with case studies of those who profit, and those who suffer, from selling the human body. Rating 4.5
A Broad ManifestoIn the vein of his mentor Jeremy Rifkin, Andy Kimbrell has written a broadside condemning all aspects of the bio-industries extant at the 1993 publication date of this book. Well written, and thoroughly researched this is a highly readable in-depth review of the major bioethical issues facing us today. I recommend this book highly and not just because I am in the index. The chapter in which I am mentioned deals with the Harvard or oncomouse and patents on living beings. Andy's account is accurate, well researched, and his opinions are thoughtful and well grounded. If you are not repelled by the politics of Jeremy Rifkin, but have an open mind on the questions of the ethics of biotechnology, this book is well worth your attention.Kimbrell is the Carl Sagan of our "inner" universe.Highly recommended! Kimbrell's book is both thought provoking and informative and is very hard to put down. He addresses the things that the newspapers do not tell us about surrogate motherhood, organ marketing and genetic engineering. He tells about the odd court cases and rulings dealing with issues society has never had to deal with before. He also gives examples of how genetics is being used to affect our lives without our consent. The book does an excellent job of raising the reader's awareness of how our species future is presently at a crossroads and why we should be concerned. Interesting topic, clearly presented and well referenced for those wanting more.Can Life have Respect and also Biotech?Thousands of men and women were originally conceived in petri dishes in laboratories from sperm sold by anonymous men for an average payment of 50 dollars. What is the long-term psychological effect on such persons who must live with the knowledge that their conception occurred outside a womb and their fathers were involved in it only for money? This is one of the many questions that Andrew Kimbrell raises in The Human Body Shop, in which he covers the full range of issues relating to the treatment of the human body and its components as marketable commodities, from the controversy in the 1950's and 60's over the sale of human blood to the looming possibilities of human genetic engineering. These are global issues; for example, while the sale of body parts for transplants is illegal in the U.S., the sale of kidneys is a thriving business in India and other developing countries, where the poor are selling their body parts to the rich. Another controversial practice is surrogate motherhood; thousands of babies have been born of mothers who were contracted for the nine-month gestation service, usually for a fee of 10,000 dollars. Since a 1980 Supreme Court decision that a living organism (an oil-eating microbe) could be patented, the patenting of life has become an accepted practice. As of 1997 over forty animals had been patented, including mice, turkeys, and rabbits. Human cells and hundreds of human genes have also been patented. Kimbrell poses the question of whether genetic engineering will eventually lead to the patenting of a human being? While treating the reader to a highly interesting recounting of the histories of controversial biotech practices, Kimbrell makes a cogent argument that the marketing of life is dehumanizing; he calls for increased government control in the biotech field, especially as we enter the era of human genetic engineering. There is unquestionably a need for more public debate on biotech issues, but Kimbrell could have helped even more to further such debate by devoting a bit more of his book to the views of biotech proponents, even though he passionately disagrees with such views. Kimbrell's failure to favor the reader with a broader range of views dropped the rating for The Human Body Shop from five stars to four. |
