Progress in genetic and reproductive technology now offers us the possibility of choosing what kinds of children we do and don't have. Should we welcome this power, or should we fear its implications? Glover shows us how we might try to answer this question, and other provoking and disturbing questions to which it leads.

The genetic revolution has provided incredibly valuable information about our DNA, information that can be used to benefit and inform—but also to judge, discriminate, and abuse. An essential reference for living in today's world, this book gives the background information critical to understanding how genetics is now affecting our everyday lives.

This book explores the many prospects, challenges and ethical questions that surround the engineering of our reproductive cells. It is an accessible, three-part examination, moving from focused, realistic assessments of the promise and problems for this advancing technology to a section of short essays on the implications of our technological ability.

Contents: Gene therapy : a treatment for altered genes -- Medical and scientific issues in gene therapy -- Discoveries leading to gene therapy -- Successes and setbacks in the 1990s -- Single-gene recessive disorders -- Single-gene traits : dominant disorders -- X-linked disorders -- Multigene and traits influenced by environment -- Ethics issues and gene therapy -- Regulatory actions in the United States -- Gene therapy in other countries -- Social and religious issues -- The future of gene therapy.

Considers the ethical concerns and debates raised by the application of various types of genetic technologies.

The'sorting society'expresses what many people believe will be the outcome of advances in genetic technology: a society in which many characteristics of children are no longer the result of genetic chance but of deliberate selection. This book focuses on the ethical, legal and social issues raised by this technology.

Wondergenes not only imagines a future world in which genetic enhancement is the norm, but asserts that this future has already begun. What happens when gene therapy becomes gene enhancement? Who will benefit and who might be left behind?