Born and made : an ethnography of preimplantation genetic diagnosis
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Born and made : an ethnography of preimplantation genetic diagnosis
(In-formation series)(Princeton paperbacks)
Princeton University Press, c2006
- : softcover
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [233]-248) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Are new reproductive and genetic technologies racing ahead of a society that is unable to establish limits to their use? Have the "new genetics" outpaced our ability to control their future applications? This book examines the case of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), the procedure used to prevent serious genetic disease by embryo selection, and the so-called "designer baby" method. Using detailed empirical evidence, the authors show that far from being a runaway technology, the regulation of PGD over the past fifteen years provides an example of precaution and restraint, as well as continual adaptation to changing social circumstances. Through interviews, media and policy analysis, and participant observation at two PGD centers in the United Kingdom, Born and Made provides an in-depth sociological examination of the competing moral obligations that define the experience of PGD.
Among the many novel findings of this pathbreaking ethnography of reproductive biomedicine is the prominence of uncertainty and ambivalence among PGD patients and professionals--a finding characteristic of the emerging "biosociety," in which scientific progress is inherently paradoxical and contradictory. In contrast to much of the speculative futurology that defines this field, Born and Made provides a timely and revealing case study of the on-the-ground decision-making that shapes technological assistance to human heredity.
Table of Contents
List of Figures ix Acknowledgments xi Preface xv Introduction: Babies by Design? 1 Chapter 1: What Is PGD? 25 Chapter 2: Studying PGD 75 Chapter 3: Getting to PGD 94 Chapter 4: Going Through PGD 132 Chapter 5: Moving On from PGD 163 Chapter 6: Accounting for PGD 196 Conclusion: PGD Futures? 218 Appendix 231 References 233 Index 249
by "Nielsen BookData"