Full Description
Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2021
An anthropologist visits the frontiers of genetics, medicine, and technology to ask: whose values are guiding gene-editing experiments, and what are the implications for humanity?
At a conference in Hong Kong in November 2018, Dr. Jiankui He announced that he had created the first genetically modified babies—twin girls named Lulu and Nana—sending shockwaves around the world. A year later, a Chinese court sentenced Dr. He to three years in prison for "illegal medical practice."
As scientists elsewhere start to catch up with China's vast genetic research programme, gene editing is fuelling an innovation economy that threatens to widen racial and economic inequality. Fundamental questions about science, health, and social justice are at stake. Who gets access to gene-editing technologies? As countries loosen regulations around the globe, can we shape research agendas to promote an ethical and fair society?
Professor Eben Kirksey takes us on a groundbreaking journey to meet the key scientists, lobbyists, and entrepreneurs who are bringing cutting-edge genetic modification tools like CRISPR to your local clinic. He also ventures beyond the scientific echo chamber, talking to doctors, hackers, chronically ill patients, disabled scholars, and activists and who have alternative visions of a genetically modified future for humanity.
The Mutant Project empowers us to ask the right questions, uncover the truth, and navigate this new era of scientific enquiry.
Contents
Prologue: The World on Notice;
I'm Quite Glad That I Wasn't First;
A Typical Shenzhen Story;
The Best Humans Haven't Been Produced Yet;
Winner Takes All;
Look at Those Muscles. Look at That Butt;
A Moral Choice;
Will I Have to Mortgage My House?;
The Cancer Moonshot;
Free Health Care for All;
Silence = Death;
Immorality Has to Be the Goal;
I Don't Want to Walk. I Want to Fly;
High-Quality Children;
#transracial;
American Medicine and Only for You;
He Was Busy. Busy. Always Doing Research;
A Hammer. Looking for a Nail;
Beautiful Lies;
Two Healthy Baby Girls?;
Mixed Wisdom;
They Are Moving Forward;
Chinese Scientists Are Creating CRISPR Babies;
Bubbles Vanishing Into Air;
The Horse Has Already Bolted;
Epilogue: We Have Never Been Human.
