Edited by Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer, Oxford and Malden, Blackwell, 1999, 600 pages, £18.99/$39.85 (sc) £60/$74.95 (hc).

It has often been remarked that developments in science and technology proceed at a pace which far outstrips efforts to understand or control them. This clearly applies in the field of bioethics. Scarcely a day goes by without the newspapers being filled with the latest genetics scare story or medical controversy. So Blackwell's latest anthology is certainly a book whose time has come. The question really is not whether it will find a market, for there are many, both students and professionals, who will find this tome an invaluable reference, but whether the editors have managed to strike a suitable balance between their own, avowedly utilitarian approach, and approaches of those who place a greater emphasis on notions of rights and duties.

Kuhse and Singer introduce their admirably comprehensive collection by noting that we humans owe …