An international agenda for ethics in nursing and genetics

Nurses who work with families and communities have an obligation to serve as advocates for ethical practices in health care that rapidly encompasses genetic technologies. Commercialization of gene-based diagnostics and therapies by profit-seeking industrial biotech firms is likely to present new dilemmas for professionals and populations seeking control over inherited risks for illness for themselves and their children. This agenda presents the profession with challenges that infuse nursing practice, education, and research, as well as citizenship, on an earth with fading geopolitical boundaries and evolving cultural transitions.