Fear, Wonder, and Science in the New Age of Reproductive Biotechnology

297 Pages·2017·5.019 MB·English

by  Scott F. Gilbert, Clara Pinto-Correia

FEAR, WONDER,
SCIENCE
AND
NEW AGE
IN THE
REPRODUCTIVE
OF
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Scott Gilbert and Clara Pinto-Correia
FOREWORD BY DONNA HARAWAY
FEAR, WONDER, AND SCIENCE
IN THE NEW AGE OF
REPRODUCTIVE BIOTECHNOLOGY

SCOTT GILBERT AND
CLARA PINTO-CORREIA
FEAR, WONDER,
AND SCIENCE IN
THE NEW AGE OF
REPRODUCTIVE
BIOTECHNOLOGY
FOREWORD BY DONNA HARAWAY
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York  Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2017 Scott Gilbert and Clara Pinto-Correia
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gilbert, Scott F., 1949– author. | Correia, Clara Pinto, author.
Title: Fear, wonder, and science in the new age of reproductive biotechnology /
Scott Gilbert and Clara Pinto-Correia ; foreword by Donna Haraway.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2017] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017000477 | ISBN 9780231170949 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780231544580 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Human reproductive technology. |
Human genetics. | Biotechnology.
Classification: LCC RG133.5 .G557 2017 | DDC 618.1/7806—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017000477
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Milenda Nan Ok Lee
Cover image: © Daniel Clowes. Courtesy of Fantagraphics
CONTENTS
Foreword by Donna Haraway ix
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xix
PART I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STORY
1. CONCEPTUAL DETOX: RETURNING TO HOGWARTS
TO LEARN HUMAN EMBRYOLOGY 3

SCOTT GILBERT
2. STORIES OF INFERTILITY AND ITS CONQUEST:
THE SISTERHOOD OF BLOODY MARY 19
-
CLARA PINTO CORREIA
PART II. FERTILIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS
3. FERTILIZATION: TWO CELLS AT THE VERGE
OF DEATH COOPERATE TO FORM A NEW BODY
THAT LASTS DECADES 35

SCOTT GILBERT
VI CONTENTS
4. FERTILITY RITES: ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION
AND IN VITRO FERTILIZATION—
THEIR HOPES AND THEIR FEARS 61
-
CLARA PINTO CORREIA
PART III. THE MOTHER AND HER FETUS
5. NORMAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE BEGINNING
OF HUMAN LIFE: WHY SCIENTISTS ARE BEING ASKED
THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS AND WHY THEOLOGIANS
ARE BEING ASKED SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS 83

SCOTT GILBERT
6. TECHNOLOGICAL MOTHERHOOD 107
-
CLARA PINTO CORREIA
PART IV. IMPROVING THE HUMAN CONDITION
THROUGH BIOLOGY: THE REALITY
AND THE FANTASY
7. CLONING ANIMALS, CELLS, AND GENES:
WHERE DID CLONING COME FROM,
AND WHERE IS IT GOING TO RIGHT NOW? 129

SCOTT GILBERT
8. GLORY DAYS: MY PERSONAL ACCOUNT
OF CLONING 151
-
CLARA PINTO CORREIA
CONTENTS VII
PART V. EPILOGUES
9. INFERTILITY WARS: HOW LIFE FEELS AFTER
EVERYTHING FAILS, AND, BY THE WAY,
HOW DO WE SURVIVE IT? 175
-
CLARA PINTO CORREIA
10. THE HUMAN CONDITION OF FEAR AND WONDER:
IN CELEBRATION OF BODIES 195

SCOTT GILBERT
Appendix: A Field Guide to Assisted Reproductive
Technologies 207
Glossary 221
Notes 235
References 243
Index 263

FOREWORD
Making Babies, Making Kin
DONNA HARAWAY
T
his book in my hands, Fear, Wonder, and Science in the New Age of
Reproductive Technology, like a human being, is itself fearfully and
wonderfully made. Scott Gilbert and Clara Pinto-Correia come to
readers as whole persons in this unusual and much-needed book. Their
thinking, feeling, experiences, fears, curiosities, and hopes infuse these
pages. Both developmental biologists, the authors engage a risky collabo-
ration to present to ordinary people several stories that are usually kept
rigidly separate. These accounts include (1) the rich story of how a human
baby is made from the adventures of egg and sperm and the musical score
of tissues and molecules to result in the emergence of a squirming infant
from the body of a woman; (2) the nonlinear pathways in the history of
developmental biology that bring us to our present scientific understand-
ings and scientific narratives; (3) an account of technological, medical,
and social strands that have been woven together in practices of biotech-
nologically assisted reproduction; (4) a respectful but pointed discussion
of both the diversity of scientists’ understandings of when human person-
hood may be said to emerge, and also of major world religions’ diverse
beliefs about when human life might be thought to begin; and (5) real-
life stories of intense suffering, not only from involuntary infertility, but
even more both from the pressure of enforced silence about one’s infer-
tility and from the misleading promises of a technical fix to a profound
human experience. Each part of this rich tapestry of stories is woven in
an acute consciousness of complex social, personal, and technical his-
tories. Each part requires—as well as nurtures—emotional, intellectual,