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Also see the archival list of Science's Compass: Enhanced Perspectives
MEDICINE: Enhanced: Race and Reification in Science
Troy Duster
The use of the concept of race in pharmacogenomics, forensics, and human molecular genetics continues apace, despite the imprecision of the category and the growing number of voices suggesting caution, and even a "sunset clause" for its continued deployment. The new technologies that can generate SNP patterns and profiles for any population have created an ever growing risk that racial categories will be mistakenly re-inscribed as "genetic." The author of this Policy Forum urges geneticists to counter this problem actively by the way they report their findings.
The author is director of the Institute for the History of the Production of Knowledge, New York University, 269 Mercer Street, New York, NY 10003-6687, USA. E-mail: troy.duster{at}nyu.edu
The editors suggest the following Related Resources on Science sites:
In Science Magazine
PERSPECTIVES
David Altshuler and Andrew G. Clark (18 February 2005) Science307 (5712), 1052.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1109682] |Summary »|Full Text »|PDF »
RESEARCH ARTICLES
David A. Hinds, Laura L. Stuve, Geoffrey B. Nilsen, Eran Halperin, Eleazar Eskin, Dennis G. Ballinger, Kelly A. Frazer, and David R. Cox (18 February 2005) Science307 (5712), 1072.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1105436] |Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »|Supporting Online Material »
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