Review

Gene blues

GENERATION GAMES: GENETIC ENGINEERING AND THE FUTURE FOR OUR LIVES
Pat Spallone
Women’s Press, 1992, £7.95

Genetic engineering promises to transform the very idea of what is ‘natural’ by manipulating the fundamental biological characteristics of plants, animals and even our own bodies. Already tomatoes have been designed for easy mechanical harvest, cows to produce valuable drugs in their milk, and bacteria to eat industrial waste. Whole new industries are being created to harness the potential commercial benefits of biotechnology and enormous government research projects plan to have the whole of the human genetic map understood within the next 20 years. For the advocates of the bio-revolution, genetic engineering holds out the prospect of food for the world’s hungry, powerful new medicines, and clean, environmentally friendly industries. However, for many there is something profoundly unsettling about the idea of meddling with the stuff of life. It is a Faustian bargain that could unleash untold harm

Pat Spallone is a sceptic, and her book is useful in both providing a good introduction to the field and offering a critical look at the claims made for the development of the new biotechnology. Central to her analysis is a rejection of the simple technological fix promised by biotechnologists, and the importance of seeing issues such as food production and medical technologies in a broader social and political context. There are useful chapters on patenting life, reproductive engineering and developing countries, but the most important part of the book is her challenge to the idea that faulty genes can be the cause of many diseases.

Increasingly, diseases such as cancer and heart disease are being redefined as having a predominantly genetic component. As our knowledge of human genetics improves this emphasis is likely to increase, with increasing stress being placed on our innate biological susceptibility to disease. Implicit in this is a modern day eugenics which shifts the focus of our understanding of illness away from social and environmental factors, such as poverty, towards notions of inherent ‘unfitness’. The book warns against such a dangerous and simplistic notion. Although at times Generation Games is perhaps too anecdotal, speculative and pessimistic, it remains a valuable contribution to the public debate on genetic engineering.