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Title: Brave New Bioethics by Gregory E. Pence ISBN: 0-7425-1437-4 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield (Non NBN) Pub. Date: January, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95

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Average Customer Rating: 3 (1 review)

Rating: 3
Summary: Watch out for the personal biases!
Comment: I got this book because I've applied to medical school and wanted to be abreast of the current thinking about a wide range of topics wihch impact the health/medical system. Pence does accomplish this in his 34 chapters which cover mostly unique topics. Of course, this strength is also a problem when one desires more detailed or a better balanced representation of an issue. Beyond this, I have several objections to Pence's book. First, as this is a collection of previously published articles some are not up-to-date; for example, the articles about AIDS were written in 1988 and 1992. I'm wondering where things are now. Second, even though Pence is is a philosopher/bioethicist, he is not immune from having his own unique life experience/culture affecting his ability to be completely unbiased. In fact, none of us can. But then, let's not any of us act as if our point of view is the one and only truth. In my opinion, Pence is definitely fully invested in the dominant medical and Judeo Christian models. The book is replete with good/bads and right/wrongs. I personally found his last chapter on Hating Biotechnology highly prejudiced toward a particular viewpoint. A quote from this chapter, "Even if sowing Bt corn destroyed the environment of Ethiopia, if the resulting crop prevented the death of millions from starvation, it would be justified." illustrates a distorted reality. Further, in that chapter Pence likens those who espouse the theories of deep ecology to the Nazis, in some sort of scare tactic. Pence encourages us to push the edge of technology and has confidence in our ablities to do what's "right". I, myself, have grave concerns about the ways in which our political/corporate systems make decisions which affect the entire world -- often in a highly short-sighted and greedy fashion.