Abraham Lincoln's DNA and Other Adventures in Genetics

Front Cover
CSHL Press, 2000 - Medical - 339 pages
For laypeople and professionals alike who yearn for a better understanding of genetically engineered crops, DNA fingerprinting, cloning, or gene therapy, here is a valuable addition to a small but critical literature that will frame the public discourse as it is decided how to use the burgeoning knowledge of the genome. The lessons are delivered in the course of fascinating historical tales (including an especially enjoyable chapter on Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec) with a hint of Lewis Thomas-like awe and fascination with the power of genetic analysis.
 

Contents

Abraham Lincoln Did He Have Marfan Syndrome?
1
Kings and Queens Genetic Diseases in Royal Families
13
ToulouseLautrec An Artist despite His Genes
25
Old Bones DNA and Skeletons
37
Justice The DNA Revolution in the Courts
49
DNA Detectives The New DNA Evidence
51
Cold Hits The Rise of DNA Felon Databanks
63
Genes and Violence Do Mutations Cause Crime?
77
Transgenic Animals New Foods and New Factories
171
Endangered Species New Genes Beat Extinction
185
Xenotransplantation Animal Organs to Save Humans
197
Diseases The Genetic Revolution in Medicine
209
Cystic Fibrosis Should Everyone Be Tested?
211
Breast Cancer The Burden of Knowing
221
Alzheimer Disease Are You at High Risk?
233
Gene Therapy The Dream and the Reality
245

Wrongful Birth What Should the Doctor Know?
91
Behavior Do Genes Make Us the Way We Are?
101
Mental Illness How Much Is Genetic?
103
Personality Were We Born This Way?
115
Talent Nature or Nurture?
129
Gay Genes Whats the Evidence?
143
Plants and Animals Genetic Engineering and Nature
153
Genetically Modified Organisms The Next Green Revolution?
155
Dilemmas Genetic Technologies and Individual Choice
259
Genetic Testing and Privacy Who Should Be Able to Know Your Genes?
261
Frozen Embryos People or Property?
275
Cloning Why Is Everyone Opposed?
287
Eugenics Can We Improve the Gene Pool?
301
Bibliography
315
Index
329
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 3 - tall, lank, lean man considerably over 6 feet in height with stooping shoulders, long pendulous arms terminating in hands of extraordinary dimensions which, however, were far exceeded in proportion by his feet.
Page 5 - behind that eye. In the track of the wound were found fragments of bone which had been driven forward by the ball which was embedded in the anterior lobe of the left hemisphere of the brain.
Page 297 - each individual has a right to his or her own genetic identity and that human cloning is, and must continue to be, prohibited.
Page 164 - with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA),
Page 120 - progressed in certain moral qualities such as in affection, trustworthiness, temper, and probably in general intelligence.
Page 126 - It may be that trying to be happier is as futile as trying to be taller and therefore is counterproductive.
Page 17 - Davenport, Director of the Station for Experimental Evolution at Cold Spring Harbor, New York,
Page 283 - Ordinarily, the party wishing to avoid procreation should prevail, assuming that the other party has
Page 70 - murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. THE
Page 283 - reasonable possibility of achieving parenthood by means other than use of the preembryos in question.

About the author (2000)

Philip R. Reilly earned his undergraduate degree at Cornell University, studied human genetics at the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and graduated from Yale Medical School in 1981. He did his medical residency at Boston City Hospital. He earned board certification in internal medicine and clinical genetics, and a law degree at Columbia University. He has served on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Human Genetics, and he is a Founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics. He twice served as President of the American Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics. During the 1990s, Reilly was the Executive Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center for Mental Retardation in Waltham, Massachusetts, a nonprofit that worked on understanding childhood and adult neurological disorders. Dr. Reilly has held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School and Brandeis University. Since 2009 he has worked as a venture partner at Third Rock Ventures in Boston where he focuses on helping to start companies to develop innovative therapies for orphan genetic diseases. Over the years he has published six books and many articles about the impact of advances in genetics. Reilly frequently works with patient groups who are concerned with rare genetic disorders.

Bibliographic information