Biotechnology Policy across National Boundaries: The Science-Industrial Complex

West, D.

A globalization of innovation has produced the most massive spurt in biotechnology in world history.  Businesses, universities, and non-governmental organizations are collaborating to produce a "science-industrial complex" in biotechnology.  Using case studies of stem cell research, cloning, genetically modified food, in-vitro fertilization, and chimeras in a number of Eastern and Western countries around the world, I argue that much of this biotech activity is global in nature and independent of state control.  This shift in the relative influence of state and non-state actors has led to the virtual deregulation of biotechnology and the liberation of innovation from geo-political constraints.  These trends post a number of interesting social, political, and ethical issues for the contemporary period and suggest the need to rethink how controversial moral issues are handled by the science-industrial complex.

Details

Published by: Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date: 2007-06-15

Format: Paperback

ISBN-13: 9781349533800

DOI: 10.1057/9780230605688

Dimensions: 216cm x140cm

Pages: 192