Generation Games: Genetic Engineering And The Future For Our Lives

Synopsis

Generation Games is a ground-breaking work in ecofeminism, biotechnology, and social ethics. Pat Spallone provides general readers with facts, issues, and ethical questions related to the genetic engineering of seeds, plants, microorganisms, animals, people, and in particular, of women in medical therapies. Synthesizing much of the history and commentary on biotechnology, she shows how genetic engineers mine and manage biological resources for applications that point to the increasing industrialization of life forms. Spallone explores the global political contests engendered by developments in plant genetics and manipulation of domestic livestock. She analyzes the increasing privatization of nature and nature's resources as more plants and animals fall under the control of multinational corporations, and she discusses the patenting of living things. Viewing genetic engineering as a politically important subject, Spallone contends that these biological developments are implicated in an industrial, scientific, and political agenda 'which is at loggerheads with progressive social development'. In Generation Games , she grapples with the complex relations between science and society. Author note: Pat Spallone, a freelance researcher and writer associated with the Centre for Women's Studies at the University of York, previously worked as a biochemist in medical research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.