Entrevista a Caruso

Pig Hearts for Humans: What the Public Needs to Know About Biotech Risks

By Heather Gehlert, AlterNet. Posted January 3, 2007.

In her new book, Intervention, former NY Times technology columnist Denise Caruso talks about the risks of life on a genetically engineered planet.

Turn on the TV, open your Internet browser, or click on your inbox and chances are you’ll find an alarming story alerting you to the possibility some new hazard: cancer-causing toxins in your deodorant, mold spores in your kitchen sponge, radiation from your cell phone -- the list goes on.

In an age of information overload, it’s tempting to tune risks out entirely, especially when even the scientific community can’t seem to come to a consensus on some things: One day eggs are good; the next, they’re bad. One day hormone replacement therapy is healthy; the next, it causes cancer.

But, what if you knew that, instead of one product putting you at risk, an entire field of technology was? That’s what former NY Times technology columnist Denise Caruso tackles in her new book, Intervention: Confronting the Real Risks of Genetic Engineering and Life on a Biotech Planet.

Caruso doesn’t use scare tactics -- she doesn’t need to. Instead, she merely points out the risks of living in an age when scientists are recombining DNA from multiple species, experimenting with tissue regeneration by growing human ears on the backs of mice, and looking seriously at pigs for human heart transplants. Even more eye-opening, these innovations are occurring in the near-absence of oversight and with little attempt from government regulators or scientists to educate the public.

So what is life like on a biotech planet? AlterNet interviewed Caruso to find out.

READ ON