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The era of genetic engineering capabilities is now well into its fourth decade and has unquestionably heralded a revolution not only in biotechnology, but across the sciences more generally. More than this, contemporary recombinant genetics has launched a constellation of radical transformations of what might be described as the foundational epistemologies of Western culture, as well as of economic structures and social organisation on a global (albeit markedly fragmented) scale. Since 1970, new developments in recombinant DNA techniques have appeared at a staggering rate. These have impelled dramatic and pervasive (if highly differentiated) shifts in medical,(post) industrial and agricultural practices; in consumption patterns and trafficking (eg of'knowledge'and living matter); in the regulatory relations of law, policing, commerce and global development; and in commonsense1 cultural repertoires2 of …