The code of codes: scientific and social issues in the human genome project

DANIEL J. KEVLES and LEROY HOOD (eds), The code of codes: scientific and social issues in the human genome project, Cambridge, Mass., and London, Harvard University Press, 1992, pp. x, 398, £23.95 (0-674-13645-4). The Human Genome Project (HGP) is Big Science. Simply put, its aim is to map all the genes found in human beings, a goal the molecular biologist Walter Gilbert has called the "grail of human genetics". The code of codes is a collection of fourteen essays on the HGP. The book is divided into three sections. Daniel Kevles and Horace Freeland Judson cover 'History politics, and genetics'; five scientists (including Gilbert and James Watson) offer perspectives on 'Genetics, technology, and medicine'; and six commentators from a variety of disciplines consider 'Ethics, law, and society': the book concludes with the editors' 'Reflections'. The editors' intention is to "stimulate thought about the diversity of issues" that the HGP provokes. They succeed admirably in this task. The strength of this collection lies in the way in which social, legal, scientific, and ethical issues share the same space (although no space is given to a critical appraisal of the HGP on any of these grounds). Rarely can a contemporary scientific enterprise have been so clearly-and accessibly-shown to be deeply embedded in society. The scientists' essays are models of optimism. Their message is simple: all the problems of the project (scientific or otherwise) will be solved, and the benefits will be legion. The HGP is presented as an almost religious quest; Gilbert's essay is entitled 'A vision of the grail'. Somewhat suprisingly, perhaps, it is Kevles who is most explicit in his use of such imagery, concluding that the first complete human genome sequence would be "a multinational and multiracial melange, a kind of Adam II, his encoded essence revealed for the twenty-first century and beyond". Most of the non-scientists, however, eschew the temptation to dwell on "big" aspects of the HGP, instead offering sensitive accounts of specific, local restrictions on the use of genetic information. Particularly engaging analyses are found in Nancy Wrexler's essay on the social and clinical implications of genetic research on Huntingdon's disease, and Dorothy Nelkin's exploration of the interpretative pitfalls of genetic testing (complemented by Eric Lander's piece on DNA fingerprinting). Equally fascinating is Evelyn Fox Keller's siting of the HGP within a contemporary "eugenics of normalcy", countering Kevles' suggestion that, since the mid1960s, human genetics has been "emancipated from its eugenic antecedents". Keller also reinforces the point, made by several contributors, that at present the only "therapy" made possible by genetic research is preventive, i.e. abortion. British readers may be frustrated by the American bias of the book, particularly when dealing with the impact of the HGP on health insurance. But this bias has deeper resonances. From Kevles' intriguing account of the local (i.e. American) political climate in which the HGP was launched, to Hood's bare statement that the HGP will "secure the leadership of the United States in biotechnology and present U.S. industry with a wealth of opportunities", there runs a strand of scientific cultural imperialism. This tension pervades the book: the HGP is global, yet its history and structure is intimately tied up with the interests of the United States, especially its biotechnology companies. As in politics, so in biology: today's wars are fought on the floor of the world's stock exchanges. The political rhetoric is already in place: Watson's 'Personal view of the project' echoes Franklin D. Roosevelt, stating that the HGP has nothing to fear but fear itself. For those made uneasy by all this, the editors' concluding remarks may provide some solace.