Reframing rights : bioconstitutionalism in the genetic age / edited by Sheila Jasanoff.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Jasanoff, Sheila, editor.

Series:

Basic bioethics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Genetics.

Bioethics.

Human genetics--Social aspects.

Human genetics.

Genetic engineering--Political aspects.

Genetic engineering.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 310 pages).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 2011.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Legal texts have been with us since the dawn of human history. Beginning in 1953, life too became textual. The discovery of the structure of DNA made it possible to represent the basic matter of life with permutations and combinations of four letters of the alphabet, A, T, C, and G. Since then, the biological and legal conceptions of life have been in constant, mutually constitutive interplay -- the former focusing on life's definition, the latter on life's entitlements. Reframing Rights argues that this period of transformative change in law and the life sciences should be considered "bioconstitutional." Reframing Rights explores the evolving relationship of biology, biotechnology, and law through a series of national and cross-national case studies. Sheila Jasanoff maps out the conceptual territory in a substantive editorial introduction, after which the contributors offer "snapshots" of developments at the frontiers of biotechnology and the law. Chapters examine such topics as national cloning and xenotransplant policies; the politics of stem cell research in Britain, Germany, and Italy; DNA profiling and DNA databases in criminal law; clinical trials in India and the United States; the GM crop controversy in Britain; and precautionary policymaking in the European Union. These cases demonstrate changes of constitutional significance in the relations among human bodies, selves, science, and the state.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Rewriting Life, Reframing Rights / Sheila Jasanoff Jasanoff, Sheila 1

2 States of Eugenics: Institutions and Practices of Compulsory Sterilization in California / Alex Wellerstein Wellerstein, Alex 29

3 Making the Facts of Life / Sheila Jasanoff Jasanoff, Sheila 59

4 More than Just a Nucleus: Cloning and the Alignment of Scientific and Political Rationalities / Giuseppe Testa Testa, Giuseppe 85

5 Between Church and State: Stem Cells, Embryos, and Citizens in Italian Politics / Ingrid Metzler Metzler, Ingrid 105

6 Certainty vs. Finality: Constitutional Rights to Postconviction DNA Testing / Jay D. Aronson Aronson, Jay D. 125

7 Judical Imaginaries of Technology: Constitutional Law and the Forensic DNA Database / David E. Winickoff Winickoff, David E. 147

8 Risks and Rights in Xenotransplantation / Mariachiara Tallacchini Tallacchini, Mariachiara 169

9 Two Tales of Genomics: Capital, Epistemology, and Global Constitutions of the Biomedical Subject / Kaushik Sunder Rajan Rajan, Kaushik Sunder 193

10 Human Population Genomics and the Dilemma of Difference / Jenny Reardon Reardon, Jenny 217

11 Despotism and Democracy in the United Kingdom: Experiments in Reframing Citizenship / Robert Doubleday Doubleday, Robert, Brian Wynne Wynne, Brian 239

12 Representing Europe with the Precautionary Principle / Jim Dratwa Dratwa, Jim 263

13 Conclusion / Sheila Jasanoff Jasanoff, Sheila 287.

Notes:

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

9780262298667

026229866X

1283258765

9781283258760

OCLC:

753680776

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.