The Clone Age : Adventures in the New World of Reproductive Technology

by Lori Andrews

Book Overview

An authority on the legal and ethical ramifications of reproductive technology discusses the history of biotechnology, the future of genetic research, and the issues that result when technology... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805060804
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 5.7"

Customer Reviews

A must-read for anyone who's ever been an embryo

Lori B. Andrews, the foremost expert on legal issues related to reproductive matters, has written what must be one of the most important books ever to address the fundamental building blocks of all human life. Anyone who cares deeply about any issue surrounding in vitro fertilization, cloning, sperm donors, the use of body tissue by science and the ethics related to these matter must read this book. In clear, exciting, entertaining and occasionally very humorous language, Andrews gives frightening details of the latest breakthroughs in research technology. Here's are just a few of the many provocative topics introduced: did you know that technology exists for harvesting eggs from human female fetuses? That it's technically possible to abort a girl child, but use it's eggs to create another human being at a later date? That sperm has been frequently 'harvested' from dead men? Or the fact that, although cloned animals often have severe defects, this procedure is being pushed forward in different places around the world? And government oversight of radical new reproductive technology is practically non-existent, while other medical procedures are always exposed to extreme scrutiny. Read this book! You'll never read another story about human reproduction or cloning the same way again.

superb

I think is one of the best b ooks (in the field) that I ever read.(How could I get in touch with L.B.A ?

Scarier than any horror movie!

Did you know that a doctor can take a sample of your tissues, isolate some factor and then SELL it to drug companies for big bucks without asking your permission or paying you a dime?I didn't, until I read this book.What about the profits that gene researchers are making by patenting YOUR genes? Or about the undisclosed financial interest that regulators have in allowing such patents to proceed.It's all in here and it makes for some very scary reading.While most of us weren't looking, that portion of the medical community motivated primarily by greed has ventured into some very odd territory. The repercussions may make medicine even more expensive to the consumer at the same time as it makes health insurance even more unattainable. In a world where medical mistakes already cost more lives each year than Cancer or AIDS, we cannot afford to trust our doctors to watch out for our best interests. This book makes it painfully clear the extent to which profit, rather than care for patients drives genetic and reproductive medicine.A MUST read.

A courageous memoir that should be required reading

Seven years ago, wrestling with a hopeless prognosis of several world-class fertility specialists, I was haunted by a nightmare. Lost in a labyrinth of examining rooms I watched men and women in lab coats rushing past me. They belonged to a new hybrid species programmed to make as much money as they could. The dream left me with a feeling of dread, as if I had put my life into the wrong hands and almost lost it. In the last seven years of working with fertility issues I've heard stories of exploitation, greed, incompetence. I've met women and men who were living my nightmare. Still I was not prepared for the devastating reality of Ms. Andrews' courageous memoir. Anyone with a conscience, fertility expert or plain-clothes-human alike can't but ask herself after reading The Clone Age: How do we, as a society, insure that the miracles of technology do not estrange us from the miracles of our own bodies and souls? Julia Indichova, author of Inconceivable: Winning the Fertility Game

Definitely worthwhile!

A fascinating look at the history of the reproductive advances of our time. Provides a great deal of insight into future advances and ethical dilemmas. As entertaining as many novels I have read... and some of the facts seem stranger than fiction.