The second edition of Genetic Engineering covers accelerating advances in DNA technology and its applications since the first edition. The science continues to outstrip the ability of Western societies to fit the new capabilities with the philosophical and political expectations of their people and institutions. Many of the basic social and ethical issues raised at the outset remain. Legislative guidelines favored by most to provide basic protec-tions of individual privacy and against genetic discrimination of various sorts are being established in many nations. The moral and ethical questions remain particularly divisive in the United States, reflecting the deep philosophical differences on many issues that polarize this nation.