The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project

by Daniel J. Kevles (Editor), Leroy Hood (Editor)

Overview

The human genome is the key to what makes us human. Composed of the many different genes found in our cells, it defines our possibilities and limitations as members of the species. The ultimate goal of the pioneering project outlined in this book is to map our genome in detail—an achievement that will revolutionize our understanding of human development and the expression of both our normal traits and our abnormal characteristics, such as disease. The Code of Codes is a collective exploration of the substance and possible consequences of this project in relation to ethics, law, and society as well as to science, technology, and medicine.

The many debates on the Human Genome Project are prompted in part by its extraordinary cost, which has raised questions about whether it represents the invasion of biology by the kind of Big Science symbolized by high-energy accelerators. While addressing these matters, this book recognizes that far more than money is at stake. Its intent is not to advance naive paeans for the project but to stimulate thought about the serious issues—scientific, social, and ethical—that it provokes. The Code of Codes comprises incisive essays by stellar figures in a variety of fields, including James D. Watson and Walter Gilbert and the social analysts of science Dorothy Nelkin and Evelyn Fox Keller. An authoritative review of the scientific underpinnings of the project is provided by Horace Freeland Judson, author of the bestselling Eighth Day of Creation.

The book’s broad and balanced coverage and the expertise of its contributors make The Code of Codes the most comprehensive and compelling exploration available on this history-making project.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674136465
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/01/1993
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Daniel Kevles is Stanley Woodward Professor of History and Law at Yale University.

Leroy Hood, MD, developed the DNA synthesizing technology that made possible the Human Genome Project and is cofounder of the Institute for Systems Biology. A pioneer in the fields of systems biology, proteomics, and P4 medicine, he has won the Kyoto Prize, the Lasker Award, the Heinz Award, and the National Medal of Science.

Table of Contents

Preface

Part I History, Politics, and Genetics

1. Out of Eugenics: The Historical Politics of the Human Genome - Daniel J. Kevles

2. A History of the Science and Technology Behind Gene Mapping and Sequencing - Horace Freeland Judson

Part II Genetics, Technology, and Medicine

3. A Vision of the Grail - Walter Gilbert

4. The Challenges to Technology and Informatics - Charles Cantor

5. DNA-Based Medicine: Prevention and Therapy - C. Thomas Caskey

6. Biology and Medicine in the Twenty-First Century - Leroy Hood

7 A Personal View of the Project - James D. Watson

Part III Ethics, Law, And Society

8. The Social Power of Genetic Information - Dorothy Nelkin

9. DNA Fingerprinting: Science, Law, and the Ultimate Identifier - Eric Lander

10. Clairvoyance and Caution: Repercussions from the Human Genome Project - Nancy Wexler

11. Genetic Technology and Reproductive Choice: An Ethics for Autonomy - Ruth Schwartz Cowan

12. Health Insurance, Employment Discrimination, and the Genetics Revolution - Henry T. Greely

13. Nature, Nurture, and the Human Genome Project - Evelyn Fox Keller

14. Reflections - Daniel J. Kevles and Leroy Hood

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Glossary

Contributors

Index

Editorial Reviews

There is a stream of books on the Human Genome Project… This is the best so far. If you want to know the best—and worst—of what tomorrow’s genetics can do, buy it.

Worldlink Magazine - Steve Jones

So far, the research (on human genetics) is on track, according to Kevles and Hood, who edited [this] impressive collection of thirteen critical essays by leading biologists, computer scientists and social scientists commenting on both the Genome Project itself and the important ethical implications of the new discoveries in human genetics.

Los Angeles Times - John Wilkes

The Code of Codes…gives a very balanced cross-section of views on both the scientific aspects of the project and many of the social issues surrounding it… In studying the human genome, much will be discovered about the evolution of life and living systems and if, as the book tries to show, there are fears, there is also hope that this knowledge will benefit humanity. What more can one want?

Nature - Sydney Brenner

This book provides much valuable information on a program that has become international rather than provincial, but whose perceived urgency may exceed its justification.

Science - Bernard D. Davis

This book provides much valuable information on a program that has become international rather than provincial, but whose perceived urgency may exceed its justification.
— Bernard D. Davis

Science

The Code of Codes...gives a very balanced cross-section of views on both the scientific aspects of the project and many of the social issues surrounding it...In studying the human genome, much will be discovered about the evolution of life and living systems and if, as the book tries to show, there are fears, there is also hope that this knowledge will benefit humanity. What more can one want?
— Sydney Brenner

Nature

So far, the research (on human genetics) is on track, according to Kevles and Hood, who edited [this] impressive collection of thirteen critical essays by leading biologists, computer scientists and social scientists commenting on both the Genome Project itself and the important ethical implications of the new discoveries in human genetics.
— John Wilkes

Los Angeles Times

Another popularization of the Human Genome Project, this one has the distinction of being the first published as an anthology, and among its contributors are some leading scholars, scientists, and social critics. The three parts of the book present essays covering topics in ``History, Politics, and Genetics,'' ``Genetics, Technology, and Medicine,'' and ``Ethics, Law, and Society.'' Some of the essays are quite provocative, especially editor Kevles's ``Out of Eugenics: The Historical Politics of the Human Genome,'' Dorothy Nelkin's ``The Social Power of Genetic Information,'' Ruth Schwartz Conan's ``Genetic Technology and Reproductive Choice,'' and James D. Watson's ``A Personal View of the Project.'' Still, there is a good deal of substantive overlap among the essays and, while the discussions by experts are more sophisticated and specialized than those appearing in other books, little new information is presented for general readers. Public libraries with either Jerry Bishop and Michael Waldholz's Genome ( LJ 7/90) or Robert Shapiro's The Human Blueprint ( LJ 9/1/91) do not need this title, but academic libraries should consider it.-- Gregg Sapp, Montana State Univ. Libs., Bozeman

Library Journal

Fourteen contributions (seven based on lectures delivered at Caltech 1989-1990) provide a historical introduction to the project's technical, social, and political background and explore the substance and implications of the project in relation both to genetics, technology, and medicine, and to ethics, law, and society. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews