Biotech Juggernaut: Hope, Hype, and Hidden Agendas of Entrepreneurial BioScience

by Stuart Newman, Tina Stevens

Biotech Hope, Hype, and Hidden Agendas of Entrepreneurial BioScience relates the intensifying effort of bioentrepreneurs to apply genetic engineering technologies to the human species and to extend the commercial reach of synthetic biology or "extreme genetic engineering." In 1980, legal developments concerning patenting laws transformed scientific researchers into bioentrepreneurs. Often motivated to create profit-driven biotech start-up companies or to serve on their advisory boards, university researchers now commonly operate under serious conflicts of interest. These conflicts stand in the way of giving full consideration to the social and ethical consequences of the technologies they seek to develop. Too often, bioentrepreneurs have worked to obscure how these technologies could alter human evolution and to hide the social costs of keeping on this path. Tracing the rise and cultural politics of biotechnology from a critical perspective, Biotech Juggernaut aims to correct the informational imbalance between producers of biotechnologies on the one hand, and the intended consumers of these technologies and general society, on the other. It explains how the converging vectors of economic, political, social, and cultural elements driving biotechnology’s swift advance constitutes a juggernaut. It concludes with a reflection on whether it is possible for an informed public to halt what appears to be a runaway force.

Genres: Science

206 pages, Hardcover

Published January 28, 2019

Reviews

[Kasey Jojo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and eye opening book. This was a great book to read as a counterbalance to both A Crack in Creation by Doudna and Sternberg, and Regenesis by George Church and Edward Regis, both books which seem to give unequal weight to the potential amazing benefits of things like CRISPR-Cas9 against the possible unintended consequences, or even malevolent misuse of biotech and bio engineering.

To be fair, Doudna does acknowledge the potential misuses and damage this technology could cause, but it takes up a tiny sliver of her book. She also was proactive in pushing the science and academic community to convene in order to decide what the best and safest, most ethical path forward might be.

The problem with these measures, as Newman and Stevens point out in this book, is that these researchers, these academics, aren't always transparent and forthcoming. These convenings are often held in private, or if they're announced to the public they aren't advertised well. Do we really want a select group of people deciding how to engineer the future of humanity, the future of our ecosystems?

Biotech Juggernaut shows how mired in conflicting interests the academic community is, and gives well cited instances, proof that people at the helm of academic institutions often are compromised because they have their own venture capital, their own entrepreneurial endeavors that stand to benefit from skewing research to meet their demands. Its discussion about Prop 71, SCNT cloning, three parent children, and chimeras are at once fascinating and disturbing.

The book is not a frantic cry out against all things science. It simply states with multiple citations the long history of cover-ups and mishaps perpetrated by an over zealous scientific community. Venture capitalism and a need for return on investment drives the field of bioengineering into taking ever more increasing chances, chances that need to be made aware to the public.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

With an historical perspective and extensive scholarly research, this book outlines the rise of biotechnologies they relate to manipulating the human genome. It sheds light on the troubling control exerted by entrepreneurialism over the “border separating homo sapiens from “GMO Sapiens”.
I found this book valuable in the discussion of the political developments in California over the last decade with regard to stem cell research-its' risks for subjects and ethical dilemmas. It was a thoughtful work which will hopefully encourage people to be more informed about the humane use of biotechnology in the future

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, the curtains are pulled back on the biotech industry’s history and unbridled growth supported by the deep pockets of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who engage in purposeful public misinformation allowing for a largely unregulated biotech industry that seems unstoppable. Stevens, a historian, and Newman, a biologist, combine their expertise and offer a well-researched insight using a few case studies to educate about the problems with the development of biotechnology and the drive by both scientists who may have good intentions in improving society but also want to push the limits of what we can do with biology as well as entrepreneurs who wish to make profit. Stevens and Newman argue that one way that biotech has been successful is that it largely has public support and it is free from oversight. This is largely due to public misinformation. The authors explain to the reader the jargon and the scientific concepts, and then they point out the intentional re-terming of concepts, exaggeration of benefits, and deliberate secrecy of the biotech industry to appeal to public sentiments. This book allows the reader to be more wary of what the industry, media, and politicians are saying and to ask the right kind of questions to uncover the true nature of the research and become a more informed citizen. Because biotechnology can have irreversible effects in our society and planet, Biotech Juggernaut: Hope, Hype, and Hidden Agendas of Entrepreneurial BioScience is a clarion call for citizens to hold accountable our lawmakers and the biotech industry in their pursuit of creating a just and improved world.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is essential reading for anyone involved in the discussion about where modern biotechnology should take us as a society — which means all of us. It's timely since national and international bodies are trying right now to set up rules governing heritable human genome editing — and almost always forgetting to discuss WHETHER it should be allowed at all. Meanwhile in California there is a new effort to pass a Proposition that would spend close to $10 billion ($5.5 bn over 10 years, plus interest) of taxpayers' money to renew the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which was set up (as this book details) by a multi-million-dollar campaign in 2004 which made promises that have simply not been fulfilled. The authors know their stuff: One is Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy at New York Medical College (and a long-time activist, especially for the regulation of science), the other is Lecturer Emerita at San Francisco State (and a long-time activist, particularly for feminist issues). There is indeed a juggernaut at work, and this authoritative volume, readable and only about 200 pages in the printed version, asks questions we should all consider.

[David J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biotech Juggernaut tells a compelling, important story, and tells it very well. The story is troubling -- especially in what it reveals about the mistreatment of egg donors and the manipulation of the initiative process -- rife with conflicts of interest and promotion of corporate interests over public values. And this isn't conspiracy theories; the authors are serious scholars and scientists, who back up their arguments with citations to credible sources and helpful appendices. When you read the the doctor's testimony about the risk to egg donors, you won't view the process the same way again.