Commonweal, June 1st, 2001
The social and ethical scruples thrown up by the science of new genetics are by now familiar. Who will benefit from the therapies? Will the gold rush for gene patenting be controlled? Will screening create a new underclass of the uninsurable and the unemployable? Should we be allowed to choose the intelligence level, the hair color, and the sexual orientation of our children?
But there is a question that affects the reception of all other questions: Which voice dominates the public understanding of the new genetics? Through much of the 1980s and 1990s the public perception of biology in the...
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