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.
"Darrell West gives us a lucid guidebook to the ethical and policy conflicts in global biotechnology." - John A. Robertson, University of Texas Law School"In a globalized world there are surprisingly few efforts to present a multisectorial and multicultural analysis of biotechnology. Darrell West has succeeded in presenting a stimulating analysis of the way different cultures in geography and profession have constructed a public policy that will shape the 21st and bio-century." - Darryl Macer, Ph.D., Regional Adviser in Social and Human Sciences for Asia and the Pacific, Regional Unit for Social and Human Sciences in Asia and the Pacific (RUSHSAP)