The book is a detailed and factual account of the many discussions and alternative proposals developed over a relatively short period of time, during which the scientific research was moving much faster than the regulatory decisions. The authors envisioned this volume as a scholarly addition to the sociology of science and attempt to focus their attention on the relationship of scientists to the society and the political establishment. In doing so, however, they miss the essence of the very thing they set out to cover—the "unique experiment in the process of regulating scientific research."
The early 1970s witnessed two revolutions in basic biological research, both of which have had profound impacts on the field. First, the discovery of recombinant DNA gave molecular biologists a tool that opened genetics to a level of analysis beyond the imagination of most biologists of the time. Second, confusion reigned because the power of this ...
