Edited by T Murray, M Mehlman. John Wiley and Sons, 2000, £370, pp 1132. ISBN 0–471–17612–5

• Murray T
• Mehlman M. Encyclopaedia of Ethical
• Legal and Policy Issues in Biotechnology

This encyclopaedia is an important and comprehensive resource that is likely to be of value to a wide range of academic users for many years to come. It is particularly useful as a starting point for background research by bioethicists writing about topics in genetics and biotechnology. The collection takes a broad view of biotechnology, ranging from core topics such as genetic enhancement and the ethics of genetics research, to a series of sections that take the form of national reports on the political, ethical, and regulatory contexts covering genetically modified organisms. One potential problem for any reference work of this kind is getting out of date, given the changing nature of biotechnological research. The articles in the encyclopaedia that we read were well written and informed, and in the main looked …