Scientists are using new techniques to investigate the genetic influences on behaviors and capabilities ranging from various forms of mental illness to educational attainment. This research produces "polygenic risk scores," which are intended to capture, for any individual, the net effect of hundreds or thousands of genetic variants, each of which alone has just a tiny influence on a given behavior or capability.
Many envision great benefits from polygenic scores - including that they, combined with other factors, could lead to the development of individualized interventions in education, health care, and elsewhere. However, using genetics to explain social and behavioral attributes has an ugly history and is in danger of being appropriated by those who want to say that social and economic inequality is natural and unalterable.
A new project led by Erik Parens, a senior research scholar at The Hastings Center, will facilitate a frank and rigorous conversation among diverse experts who are hopeful about the benefits of this research and those who have concerns about it. The project is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the JPB Foundation.
The co-principal investigator is Michelle N. Meyer, an assistant professor at Geisinger. Senior advisors are Vanessa Northington Gamble, of George Washington University, and Paul Appelbaum, of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The working group consists of experts from a range of fields, including behavioral economics, research ethics, genetics, health disparities, medicine, psychology, philosophy, and medical anthropology. Learn more here.
Even if this working group cannot reach consensus regarding whether and why various forms of such research are or are not ethically acceptable, it will develop advice for a range of stakeholders about how to conduct the research and disseminate its results in ways that minimize its harms and maximize its benefits.
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For more information or to interview Erik Parens, contact:
Susan Gilbert
Director of Communications
The Hastings Center
gilberts@thehastingscenter.org
845-424-4040 x 244
To interview Michelle Meyer, contact
Matthew Van Stone
Media Relations Director
Geisinger
mrvanstone1@geisinger.edu
570-808-3344