Reconstructing Geneticization: a Research Manifesto 7 Health Law Journal 1999

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7 Health L.J. 5 (1999)
Reconstructing Geneticization: a Research Manifesto

handle is hein.journals/hthlj7 and id is 9 raw text is: Reconstructing Geneticization: a Research Manifesto
Adam M. Hedgecoe*
I. Introduction
Many commentators on the new genetics see geneticization and
commercialization as related processes. They are the less desirable consequences
of progress in biotechnology. Unavoidable and unwanted, they bring biotechnology
into disrepute and turn public opinion against developments in genetics.
There is little difference between the ethical, legal and social concerns
regarding commercialization and geneticization. Most of the critiques
posit specific effects on individuals and communities, such as loss of
opportunity to purchase insurance or to be employed, reduced tolerance
for diversity in the range of human abilities and experiences, increased
pressure to utilize genetic technologies resulting in reduced individual
choice.'
Clearly there are important issues with both of these processes: commercial
involvement in academic science has led to conflicts of interest, and the definition
of diseases in terms of genetics can produce anomalous situations. But it is too
simplistic to see these processes as both irredeemably bad and, in the case of
commercialization, this is acknowledged. Talk is not of banning commercial
interest in genetic technologies, but of regulating it. Indeed, there are positive
aspects to commercial involvement in biotechnology.
The aim of this article is to raise the level of debate that surrounds the concept
of geneticization, to give a little more depth to it as a process and suggest future
possibilities for research. Currently, the concept of geneticization does not allow a
reasonable debate about the role of genetic explanations in medicine. Because it is
constructed in a negative way, geneticization must be seen as contrary to the public
interest and something to be discouraged. What is needed is a reformulation of the
concept of geneticization that allows realistic and productive discussions, in the
manner of the debates that surround commercialization.
A great deal of empirical work exists which documents the increase of
commercial interest in life-science research and the relationship between academic
and industrial researchers. Much of this is quantitative research, counting the
*Adam M. Hedgecoe is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Science and Technology Studies,
University College, London, UK.
'M. Burgess, Introduction in B.M. Knoppers, ed., Socio-Ethical Issues in Human Genetics
(Cowansville, Qudbec: Les litions Yvon Blais, 1998) at 340.