Faculty Bibliography

So now the world knows what I have known for more than a year: A good chunk of the DNA used to map the human genome belongs to J. Craig Venter, the scientist who led the effort at Celera Genomics (racing against the National Institutes of Health) to come up with the first rough look at our genes. Four years ago, when the possibility of mapping the human genome was first discussed, Dr. Venter asked my advice about the ethics of this undertaking. I said that a crucial issue would turn out to be whose genes were selected for mapping. From a scientific point of view anyone's genes would be fine; the detail of the first map would be relatively crude, making the tiny genetic differences that exist among human beings irrelevant. But, as I've often found -- and as the current battle over cloning human stem cells for medical research is making clear -- much more than pure science is at issue when genetics is the subject

"Bioethics in America: Origins and Cultural Politics" by M. L. Tina Stevens is reviewed