Michael D. Mehta (Ed.), Biotechnology Unglued: Science, Society & Social Cohesion. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005, 194 pp., $29.95 paper.

• Published in: Socialist Studies/Études Socialistes
• Main Author: Inouye, Kimiko
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Society for Socialist Studies 2008
• Subjects: Canada; Kyle; Iceland
• Online Access: https://socialiststudies.com/index.php/sss/article/view/23777; https://doi.org/10.18740/S4T60C

Biotechnology Unglued: Science, Society & Social Cohesion engages with issues such as farming, food safety, genetic database collections, DNA testing, bioprospecting, and intellectual property. The intention of editor Michael Mehta is to examine these issues in relation to how they impact the social cohesion of society, in particular of communities more directly impacted. For example, Mehta writes about how genetically engineered seed technologies have impacted farming communities in Canada, while Jacqueline Broerse and Joske Bunders examine how these same technologies affect smaller-scale, resource-poor farmers in the South, and Kyle Eischen discusses the implications for the Icelandic population as a result of the creation of a national Iceland Genetic Database, which is largely controlled by the DeCode Genetics company.