''Exploding the Gene Myth: How Genetic Information is Produced and Manipulated by Scientists, Physicians, Employers, Insurance Companies, Educators, and Law Enforcers'' is a 1993 book by biologist Ruth Hubbard and her son

Elijah Wald Elijah Wald (born 1959) is an American folk blues guitarist, music journalist, and a blues, pop, and cultural music historian. He is a 2002 Grammy Award winner for his liner notes to ''The Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Box: The Journey o ...

, published by

Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as Jame ...

. The book is critical of many potential and actual uses of human genetic information, such as attempts to develop personalized medical treatments for

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

s based on an individual's

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

. A second edition was published in 1999, adding discussions of

cloning Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical genomes, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction; this reproduction of an organism by itself without ...

and

pharming Pharming is a cyberattack intended to redirect a website's traffic to another, fake site by installing a malicious program on the victim's computer in order to gain access to it. Pharming can be conducted either by changing the hosts file on a vi ...

, among other subjects.

Reviews

In his review of the book's first edition, Alan H. Goodman praised it as a "worthwhile read" and "an antidote to the rise of geneticization", while also admitting that he did not consider it to be "categorically the best book it could have been". In another mixed review, William J. McIntyre criticized the authors' biased presentation of the role played by

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

in human traits, while also describing the book as "good and valuable reading". Behavior geneticist David Rowe praised the book's discussion of socially controversial aspects of human genetics, but claimed that it failed to provide "either an evenhanded or accurate treatment of

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, ...

and

behavioral genetics Behavioural genetics, also referred to as behaviour genetics, is a field of scientific research that uses genetic methods to investigate the nature and origins of individual differences in behaviour. While the name "behavioural genetics" c ...

References

1993 non-fiction books Beacon Press books Genetics books {{genetics-book-stub