Biotechnology Unzipped

"Biotechnology" may raise more hope and fear...revelation and confusion...excitement and alarm than any other term in today's headlines. In Biotechnology Unzipped, scientist and skilled science popularizer Eric Grace helps readers understand what biotechnology is and what implications it holds for all of us.

Grace offers a reader-friendly explanation of how we came to where we are--from the coining of the word "cell" in 1665 through Darwin's breakthrough insight on evolution and the unraveling of the DNA helix to the 1997 announcement of the cloning of Dolly the sheep.

This book uses everyday metaphors to help readers understand the genetic code and how it works to produce every form of life. Grace deals frankly with the reality that biotechnology is first and foremost a commercial activity. Focusing on the ethical implications, he looks at the scope of public opinion, the role of the media, the vulnerability of the poor to exploitation, and the problem of patenting life itself.

Grace explores the promises and realities of biotechnology in major arenas:


The human body. The medical industry is today's biggest customer for biotechnology, and Grace presents its application as a continuum from the earliest experiments with skin grafting in the 1800s. He reports on the progress of gene therapy and other medical marvels--yet Grace argues that high-tech medicine does not guarantee longer, healthier lives any more than high-tech weapons guarantee world peace. 
The farm. Is biotechnology the answer to world hunger or is it self-serving rhetoric from agribusiness? Grace explores the reality between these two points of view through examples, including the controversy over bovine growth hormone, increased use of herbicides and pesticides, and genetic modification of plants. 
The environment. Biotechnology Unzipped looks at the promise of microbes cleaning up pollutants such as the Exxon Valdez spill. Alternate Selection, Newbridge Science Book Club