ISBN 0-571-17051-X (UK pbk)

"The Human Genome Project has been hailed as the biggest scientific initiative since the race to send a man to the moon. Around the globe, thousands of researchers are analysing the genetic message encoded in human DNA. By the year 2000, they hope to have located every gene in the human body, to have recorded every one of the instructions which specifies a human being.

"The benefits of the project have been well publicized, but its darker consequences have been largely ignored. Are we heading for a Brave New World, where parents will selectively abort their unborn children until they obtain one with a genetic profile indicating high intelligence? Will tests for inherited disease lead to the creation of a new 'genetic underclass' of people denied jobs, health care and insurance? What is to prevent a future dictator from genetically boosting the bravery or physical strength of his army?

"The Human Genome Project is a compelling story of detective work carried out at the frontiers of existing scientific knowledge. Properly applied, it could provide cures for inherited diseases for which at present there is little hope, as well as for cancer and heart disease, the main killers in Western society.

"But beyond the confines of the laboratory, will society be able to cope with the avalanche of new knowledge? And how can we ensure that it is not abused, as it has been in the past? Tom Wilkie, science editor of the Independent , sets out the scientific and moral implications of discoveries which are certain to affect us all". [publisher's bumpf, UK pbk, 1994]

"The risks, pitfalls, and down-side of human genetic research and genetic engineering.

"This is one of those rare books on science which is both easy-to-read and still full of information. For people totally unfamiliar with the subject of genetics, it is worthwhile to start with a more general introduction to this topic such as the popular book, Language of the Genes , by Steve Jones. Then follow it with this one". --Henry W.Targowski (in Mark/Space , 1995).

Highly recommended.