Related Experiment Videos
Genetic secrets: social issues of medical screening in a genetic age
Abstract:
In the 1990s, as the multi-billion-dollar Human Genome Project makes more and more genetic information available, we would do well to look closely at the social context of power dynamics, control, and economic interests within which that information will be used. Let us consider four specific questions. How does social stratification by race, ethnicity, gender, and social class affect the use of genetic information in the workplace? In what ways are perspectives on genetic testing socially located? What can fetal exclusion policies teach us about how genetic information might be used to identify high-risk individuals? What social and political challenges are posed by new information about genetic abnormalities, and how might that information be distributed fairly?