Doctoral Dissertation Research: The German Controversy Over the Oncomouse Patent: A Case Study in the Social and Cultural Repercussions of Biotechnology

9321136拉宾诺生物技术正在迅速改变生物学。新技术有望治愈疾病，改变植物、动物乃至人类自身的基因。由于担心这些人类改造过的物种，美国的反对者试图阻止转基因食品在超市的销售。“动物权利”活动人士也在寻求停止对动物基因的操纵。科学与技术研究的一个重要课题是研究生物技术如何影响世界各地的社会。在Rabinow教授的指导下，Soren Germer正在调查最近德国关于转基因小鼠（Harvard oncomouse）专利的争议。该项目的目标是记录当代生物技术在具体案例和特定国家背景下的社会和文化影响。两个问题构成了这项研究的框架：作为现代生物技术的有形产品，肿瘤鼠如何影响当代德国人与动物关系的观念和实践？德国发展和接受最近生物技术的特点是什么？格默正在德国慕尼黑进行为期12个月的人种学田野调查，与这场肿瘤争议的主要对手——一群生物技术评论家、一群遗传学家和多名专利律师——一起，整理出他们相互冲突的信念和做法。他正在探索人类与动物、科学与技术、文化与自然之间关系的不同观点。我们对动物进行分类、思考和对待动物的方式，在我们如何定义自己是人类的过程中起着重要作用。本论文有助于分析近代晚期德国的文化认同，因为它被科学所呈现的激进变化所重塑。＊＊＊

9321136 Rabinow Biotechnology is rapidly revolutionizing biology. New techniques promise to cure disease and alter genes of plants, animals, and ultimately of humans themselves. Fears of these humanly engineered species have led American opponents to attempt to block sales of genetically altered foods in supermarkets. "Animal rights" activists have also sought to halt manipulation of animal genes. An important topic for Science and Technology Studies is to examine the ways biotechnology has affected societies around the world. Under the direction of Professor Rabinow, Soren Germer is examining the recent German controversy over a patent on a transgenic mouse, the Harvard oncomouse. The goal of this project is to document the social and cultural repercussions of contemporary biotechnology in a concrete case and a specific national setting. Two questions frame this research: How has the oncomouse, as a tangible product of modern biotechnology, affected contemporary German ideas and practices concerning the relationship between humans and animals? and, What are the particular characteristics of the German development and reception of recent biotechnology? Mr. Germer is conducting 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Munich, Germany, with the main adversaries in the oncomouse controversy -- a group of biotechnology critics, a group of geneticists, and various patent lawyers -- in order to chart their conflicting beliefs and practices. He is exploring local competing perspectives on the relationship between humans and animals, on science and technology, and on culture and nature. The way we classify, think, and treat animals plays an important role in how we define ourselves as humans. This dissertation contributes to the analysis of late- modern German cultural identity as it is reshaped by the radical changes which science presents. ***