July 11, 2006

Books: The Baby Business

Many people may not realize this or think about it in this way, but infertility and reproductive problems are "big business" now. A new book gives it a name: "the baby business". This book is an important look at several important aspects: "the high-tech commodification of procreation: the fabulous revenues commercial fertility clinics earn from couples' desperate desire for children and the ensuing conflicts between medical ethics and the profit motive; the premiums paid for sperm and eggs from genetically desirable donors; the possible exploitation of poor, nonwhite and Third World surrogate mothers paid to gestate the spawn of wealthy Westerners; the fine line between modern adoption practices and outright baby selling..." (Publisher's Weekly Review).

For a important, interesting perspective on this "business" check out:

The Baby Business: how money, science, and politics drive the commerce of conception by Debora L. Spar
Call # RG133.5.S666 2006

Posted by at July 11, 2006 08:39 PM