Biomedical Politics

The abortifacient RU-486 was born in the laboratory, but its history has been shaped by legislators, corporate marketing executives, and protesters on both sides of the abortion debate.

This volume explores how society decides what to do when discoveries such as RU-486 raise complex and emotional policy issues. Six case studies with insightful commentary offer a revealing look at the interplay of scientists, interest groups, the U.S. Congress, federal agencies, and the public in determining biomedical public policy—and suggest how decision making might become more reasoned and productive in the future.

The studies are fascinating and highly readable accounts of the personal interactions behind the headlines. They cover dideoxyinosine (ddI), RU-486, Medicare coverage for victims of chronic kidney failure, the human genome project, fetal tissue transplantation, and the 1975 Asilomar conference on recombinant DNA.

Table of Contents

• Front Matter
• Introduction
• Unproven AIDS Therapies: he Food and Drug Administration and ddI
• A Political History of RU-486
• The Human Genome Project: The Formation of Federal Policies in the United States, 1986-1990
• Origins of the Medicare Kidney Disease Entitlement: The Societal Security Amendments of 1972
• Deliberations of the Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel
• Asilomar and Recombinant DNA: The End of the Beginning
• Conclusions
• Appendix A: The Public and the Expert in Biomedical Policy Controversies
• Appendix B: Biographical Notes on the Authors and Commentators
• Index
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