Unesco and population genetics

The 'ethic of knowledge' and responsible science: Responses to genetically motivated racism

This study takes off from the ethical problem that racism grounded in population genetics raises. It is an analysis of four standard scientific responses to the problem of genetically motivated racism, seen in connection with the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP): (1) Discriminatory uses of scientific facts and arguments are in principle 'misuses' of scientific data that the researcher cannot be further responsible for. (2) In a strict scientific sense, genomic facts 'disclaim racism', which means that an epistemically correct grasp of genomics should be ethically justified. (3) Ethical difficulties are issues to be 'resolved' by an ethics institution or committee, which will guarantee the ethical quality of the research scrutinized. (4) Although population genetics occasionally may lead to racism, its overall 'value' for humankind justifies its cause as a desirable pursuit. I argue that these typical responses to genetically motivated racism supervene on a principle called the 'ethic of knowledge', which implies that an epistemically correct account has intrinsic ethical value. This principle, and its logically related ideas concerning the ethic of science, effectively avoids a deeper ethical question of responsibility in science from being raised.

Human genome diversity: what about the other human genome project?

Although the Human Genome Project has been successful, the Human Genome Diversity Project, proposed in 1991, has so far failed to thrive. One of the main values in studying the human genome, however, will come from examining its variations and their effects. To do that in a systematic way, an active Human Genome Diversity Project, or something very similar, will ultimately prove vital. Such an effort will confront difficult ethical and political issues; this article reviews those issues and tries to show how they might be overcome.