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The Genome Defense: Inside the Epic Legal Battle to Determine Who Owns Your DNA Audiobook
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Publisher Description
In this riveting, behind-the-scenes courtroom drama, a brilliant legal team battles corporate greed and government overreach for our fundamental right to control our genes.
When Chris Hansen, an ACLU lawyer, learned that the US government was issuing patents for human genes to biotech companies, his first thought was: How can a corporation own what makes us who we are? Then he discovered that women were being charged exorbitant fees to test for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer—all because Myriad Genetics had patented the famous BRCA genes. So he sued them.
The Genome Defense gives us a front-row seat as Hansen and a team of ACLU lawyers, along with a committed group of activists, scientists, and physicians, take their one-in-a-million case all the way to the US Supreme Court. Jorge L. Contreras, an attorney at the forefront of genetics law, interviews more than a hundred key players as he lays out the groundbreaking legal strategy to challenge human gene patents. The culmination of years of work, his book is both an intimate look at the cancer survivors whose lives have been affected by this case and a sweeping investigation into the fallout from our technological age of discovery.
Like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Genome Defense is a powerful and compelling story about how society struggles to balance scientific advancement, corporate profits, and the rights of all people.
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“Brings the large cast of case participants to life with vivid prose, and the exciting final spectacle before the Supreme Court is heart-pumping…A thorough page-turner.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“A superb lesson on patents in general and the grotesque American patent system in particular.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“It’s almost like reading a legal thriller.”
— Professor Mark A. Lemley, director, Stanford Program in Law, Science, and Technology -
“Contreras give us front-row-seat access, deft character sketches, and crystal-clear explanations of law and science.”
— Jordan Fisher Smith, author of Engineering Eden
Awards
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A New York Times Book Review pick of Best Books Now in Paperback
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About Jorge L. Contreras
Jorge L. Contreras received his law degree from Harvard and teaches intellectual property, science policy and the law, and ethics of genetics at the University of Utah and has served on high-level governmental advisory committees. His articles have appeared in Science, Nature, Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, among others. He has been featured on NPR, PRI, and BBC radio, and his opinions are cited in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and the Washington Post.
About Kaleo Griffith
Kaleo Griffith is an Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator and classically trained actor. He graduated cum laude from Franklin Pierce University with a BA in theater, holds an MFA in acting from Rutgers University, and is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He has appeared in such television series as Law & Order and Reggie’s Family & Friends, among others.