Scientists Struggling With Concerns Raised By Genome Project Progress

Genome Project Progress Some firms and institutions are establishing ethics branches to focus on policy issues left unresolved by NIH's ELSI project. RULES REQUIRED: Stanford's Paul Billings thinks ELSI has fallen short in creating a "regulatory arena". Many scientists are finding that concerns about the complex ethical, legal, and social issues surrounding genetic testing and the use of the resulting information are taking up a larger part of their time. In response to this shift in focus,

Written bySteven Benowitz

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Genome Project Progress Some firms and institutions are establishing ethics branches to focus on policy issues left unresolved by NIH's ELSI project.

RULES REQUIRED: Stanford's Paul Billings thinks ELSI has fallen short in creating a "regulatory arena".

Many scientists are finding that concerns about the complex ethical, legal, and social issues surrounding genetic testing and the use of the resulting information are taking up a larger part of their time.

In response to this shift in focus, and taking the conceptual lead from the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) branch of the Human Genome Project (HGP), a growing number of biomedical institutions are organizing in-house committees and task forces to examine various ethical issues related to genetic testing and gene therapy. They are tackling a range of questions, from issues of genetic discrimination in jobs and insurance to informed consent, patients' right to know, rights to stored DNA and ...

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