In DNA Era, New Worries About Prejudice

[jody]

I post this in GD: Politics because abuse of DNA research is a political issue, e.g. H.R.493 To prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance and employment

In DNA Era, New Worries About Prejudice

When scientists first decoded the human genome in 2000, they were quick to portray it as proof of humankind’s remarkable similarity. The DNA of any two people, they emphasized, is at least 99 percent identical.

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Though few of the bits of human genetic code that vary between individuals have yet to be tied to physical or behavioral traits, scientists have found that roughly 10 percent of them are more common in certain continental groups and can be used to distinguish people of different races. They say that studying the differences, which arose during the tens of thousands of years that human populations evolved on separate continents after their ancestors dispersed from humanity’s birthplace in East Africa, is crucial to mapping the genetic basis for disease.

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But the incident has added to uneasiness about whether society is prepared to handle the consequences of science that may eventually reveal appreciable differences between races in the genes that influence socially important traits.

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Yet even some self-described liberals argue that accepting that there may be genetic differences between races is important in preparing to address them politically.