Genetics Issues Remain in the Ethics Spotlight
Oct 29th, 2007 • Posted in: NewsVARIOUS DATELINES
Several stories dealing with the intersection of ethics and genetics were featured in the world press last week:
- The French parliament has approved a volatile measure requiring immigrants who want to join their families in that nation to undergo mandatory DNA testing to prove that they truly are blood relatives. Swiss Radio International notes that the uproar over the measure may prompt renewed attention to similar laws, such as those in Switzerland, that are currently — but quietly — in effect.
- Britain, which allows widespread use of DNA testing by law enforcement, is starting to take a hard look at the scope of such efforts, reports Reuters. “The scale of the forensic revolution is causing unease in Britain,” according to the report, “where the government is considering casting the DNA testing net wider by allowing police to take swabs from people committing minor crimes, like dropping litter.” Even Alec Jeffreys, the inventor of DNA fingerprinting, is worried about the ethics implications of increased genetic forensics, noting that safeguard legislation is lagging behind as use of the national DNA database, which holds information on more than 6 percent of the population, expands rapidly.
- James Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist famous for his role in decoding the structure of DNA in the human gene, resigned last week from his position at New York’s Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the wake of recent remarks questioning the intelligence of Africans, reports Newsday. While Watson was no stranger to controversy — he had been blasted for past comments about women, various ethnic groups, and overweight people — the president of the laboratory said that the latest series of remarks were “the last straw.”
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