Genomic Politics

Genomic science is moving out of the laboratory and into societal uses: gene therapy for terrible diseases, evidence determining guilt or innocence in a courtroom, exploration of one’s racial and ethnic ancestry, prenatal testing, and much more. Genomics promises great benefits. It also entails great risks: surveillance, a revival of eugenics, the threat of bioterrorism, and the distortions brought about by understanding life as mechanically determined rather than freely chosen.