Caruso's Intervention

Industry pal Denise Caruso just released a book called Intervention. More info about it can be found at Hybrid Vigor and you can order it here.

Intervention confronts the Real Risks of Genetic Engineering and Life on a Biotech Planet. The book challenges two of the most sacred tenets of modern society, innovation and technology, from the perspective of the unique risks they present.

Using genetic engineering and emerging biotechnologies as its model, it paints a vivid picture of the scientific uncertainties that biotech risk evaluations dismiss or ignore, and lays bare the power and money conflicts between academia, industry and regulators that have sped these risky innovations to the market.

The last chapter covers actionable things we can do. The mantra in the U.S. has always been “let the market decide.” She notes that "if the market is obfuscating or ignoring the risks of the technologies it invents and sells, how do we intervene to change course?

The most effective way is through better regulation and better advice-giving to lawmakers. First, we must ask our governments to adopt these more inclusive assessment methods. And until they do, we can learn to use them ourselves, to powerful effect. Contrary to popular belief, people have consistently proven themselves smarter and more capable of understanding the complexities of risk than decision makers give us credit for."