Preface

Summary

In genetic engineering of animals, as in all areas of applied philosophy, one cannot write intelligently about the ethical issues that arise in the field without first achieving a reasonable grasp of the empirical facts and concepts presuppositional to it. I am thus grateful to the many scientists who have patiently mentored me in the relevant science, and who have in turn been willing to examine that science and its implications through dialectical ethical lenses. I have in fact found most of the people in the field wonderfully open, unthreatened, and kind, and very much concerned about doing the right thing.

Among these scientists who have treated me as a colleague, I must especially single out the following people: Dr. J. Warren Evans, now of Texas A&M, who first challenged me to address the issues growing out of genetic engineering of animals; Kevin O'Conner of the Office of Technology Assessment, who further stimulated my thinking, and Dr. Andrew Rowan, of the Tufts University Veterinary School, who gave me a forum for discussion from which I learned a great deal.

In a class by itself is the debt I owe to my brilliant genetic engineering colleagues at Colorado State University, Drs. Richard Bowen and George Seidel, who, at one time or other, have discussed with me the majority of issues relevant to genetic engineering and whose influence emerges on every page of this book, whether or not they agree with my conclusions.