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Genes For Sale: Privatization as a Conservation Policy

Online ISBN:
9780197701195
Print ISBN:
9780195089103
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Genes For Sale: Privatization as a Conservation Policy

Published online:
31 October 2023
Published in print:
25 August 1994
Online ISBN:
9780197701195
Print ISBN:
9780195089103
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

With each species lost to the mass extinction crisis, the natural economy of the nation and of the world is greatly diminished. An endangered animal may hold the cure for cancer; a threatened plant could someday become a major food crop; and even bacteria often provide novel molecular structures in polymer science. As the rainforest is destroyed and habitats are degraded, conservationists are now urgently searching for dramatic new ways to save these economic resources. In this provocative and important book, Joseph Henry Vogel details one potential solution that has met with increasing interest and popularity: the privatization of genetic information. Vogel cogently makes the case that the world should abandon the doctrine of “the common heritage of mankind” and create private property rights over genes. Landowners, once vested with the genetic resources on their land, will have a newfound financial incentive to protect what they now already control. Genes for Sale provides an overview of the many complexities inherent in implementing a viable conservation policy. Vogel elaborates both technical issues like the construction of a “gargantuan database” of land titles and biological inventories, and political issues like legal reform. Clearly written, engaging, and timely, Genes for Sale provides students, scientists, and policy makers alike with the ideal introduction to an exciting and controversial new approach to saving our precious living heritage.

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