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. 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. 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. 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. Biotechnology Unzipped looks at the promise of microbes cleaning up pollutants such as the Exxon Valdez spill. I look forward to using the book with students, colleagues, and friends.