Biotechnology (BT) offers exciting and promising prospects for healing the sick and relieving the suffering. But because of their impressive powers to alter the workings of body and mind, the "dual uses" of the same technologies make them attractive also to people who are not sick but who would use them to look younger, perform better, feel happier, or become more "perfect." These applications of BT present us with difficult challenges. This report considers such possible "beyond therapy" uses and explores both their scientific basis and the ethical and social issues they will raise. In enjoying the benefits of BT, we will need to hold fast to an account of the human being, seen not in material or mechanistic or med. terms, but in psychic and moral and spiritual ones.

Well aware of Jews having once been the victims of Nazi eugenics policies, many Jews today have an ambivalent attitude toward new genetics and are understandably wary of genetic forms of identity and intervention. At the same time, the Jewish tradition is strongly committed to medical research designed to prevent or cure diseases. Jews and Genes explores this tension against the backdrop of various important developments in genetics and bioethics—new advances in stem cell research; genetic mapping, identity, testing, and intervention; and the role of religion and ethics in shaping public policy. Jews and Genes brings together leaders in their fields, from all walks of Judaism, to explore these most timely and intriguing topics—the intricacies of the genetic code and the wonders of life, along with cutting-edge science and the ethical issues it raises.