Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T03:12:14.013Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The genetic revolution and medicine in the 21st century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Kay E. Davies ,
Angus J. Clarke  and
Peter S. Harper
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We are currently in the midst of a revolution in our understanding of human disease. The greater understanding that has been achieved of many inherited diseases is giving insights into many more common conditions not previously regarded as ‘inherited’. An individual can be identified from a DNA fingerprint obtained from the analysis of a very small DNA sample in a hair root, mouth wash or a blood spot. By the turn of the century, we will know the sequences of most, if not all, human genes. We will have the ‘recipe’ of human life. We may not be able to develop treatments for some years, but we will have the tools for identifying those predisposed to disease. Although the use of genetic tests raises many social, ethical, legal and economic issues, this potential is already with us and we cannot ignore it. Society should already openly be debating the implications of genetic knowledge so that the enormous benefits to human health can be gained without too many suffering from misuse of the technology.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 39 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Hampton, M. L., Anderson, J., Lavizzo, B. S. and Bergman, A. B. (1974) Sickle cell “nondisease”. A potentially serious public health problem. Am. J. Dis. Child. 128, 58–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Marteau, T. M. (1994) Screening for carriers of cystic fibrosis: Psychological consequences are unclear. Brit. med. J. 309, 1429–1430.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Evers-Kiebooms, G., Denayer, L., Welkenhuysen, M., Cassiman, J. J. and van den Berghe, H. (1994) A stigmatizing effect of the carrier status for cystic fibrosis? Clin. Genet. 46, 336–343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Koch, L. and Stemerding, D. (1994) The sociology of entrenchment: a cystic fibrosis test for everyone? Soc. Sci. Med. 39, 1211–1220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Nature (1995) When is prenatal diagnosis “eugenics”? Nature 378, 549.Google Scholar
6. Royal College of Physicians Committees on Ethical Issues in Medicine and Clinical Genetics (1991) Ethical Issues in Clinical Genetics. Royal College of Physicians of London, London.Google Scholar
7.Nuffield Council on Bioethics (1993) Genetic Screening—Ethical Issues. Nuffield Council on Bioethics, London.Google Scholar
8.Boddington, P. (1994) Confidentiality in genetic counselling. In Genetic Counselling: Practice and Principles Chap 10, pp. 223–240. Clarke, A. (Ed). Routledge, London and New York.Google Scholar
9.Pokorski, R. J. (1995) Genetic information and life insurance. Nature 376L, 13–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Light, D. W. (1992) The practice and ethics of risk-related health insurance. JAMA 267, 2503–2508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Harper, P. S. (1993) Insurance and genetic testing. Lancet 341, 224–227.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Nature (1996) Whose right to genetic knowledge? Nature 379, 379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Harper, P. S. and Clarke, A. (1990) Should we test children for “adult” genetic disease? Lancet 335, 1205–1206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Clinical Genetics Society Working Party (1994) The genetic testing of children. J. Med. Genet. 31, 785–797.Google Scholar
15.Clarke, A. and Flinter, F. (1996) The genetic testing of children: a clinical perspective. In The Troubled Helix: Social and Psychological Implications of the New Genetics Chap 7, pp. 164–176. Marteau, T. and Richards, M. (Eds). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Michie, S. and Marteau, T. M. (1996) Predictive genetic testing in children: the need for psychological research. Brit. J. Health Psychol. 1, 3–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Chadwick, R. and Levitt, M. (1996) EUROSCREEN: ethical and philosophical issues of genetic screening in Europe. J. Roy. Coll. Phys. Lond. 30, 67–69.Google ScholarPubMed
18.Rozmahel, R., Wilschanski, M., Matin, A., Plyte, S., Oliver, M., Auerbach, , Moore, A., Forstner, J., Durie, P., Nadeau, J., Bear, C. and Tsui, L.-C. (1996) Modulation of disease severity in cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator deficient mice by a secondary genetic factor. Nature Genetics 12, 280–287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Baird, P. A. (1990) Genetics and health care. Perspect. Biol. Med. 33, 203–213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20.Clarke, A. (1995) Population screening for genetic susceptibility to disease. Brit. med. J. 311, 35–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21.Stott, N. C. H., Kinnersley, P. and Rollnick, S. (1994) The limits to health promotion (editorial). Brit. med. J. 309, 971–972.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Lefebvre, R. C., Hursey, K. G. and Carleton, R. A. (1988) Labeling of participants in high blood pressure screening programs: implications for blood cholesterol screenings. Arch. Int. Med. 148, 1993–1997.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23.Davison, C., Frankel, S. and Smith, G. D. (1992) The limits of lifestyle: re-assessing “fatalism” in the popular culture of illness prevention. Soc. Sci. Med. 34, 675–685.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
24.Davison, C., Macintyre, S. and Smith, G. D. (1994) The potential social impact of predictive genetic testing for susceptibility to common chronic diseases: a review and proposed research agenda. Sociology of Health & Illness 16, 340–371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25.Cloninger, C. R., Adolfsson, R. and Svrakic, N. M. (1996) Mapping genes for human personality. Nature Genetics 12, 3–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
26.Harper, P. S. (1995) DNA markers associated with high versus low IQ: ethical considerations. Behavior Genetics 25, 197–198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
27.Chapple, J. C., Dale, R. and Evans, B. G. (1987) The new genetics: will it pay its way? Lancet i, 1189–1192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28.Clarke, A. (1990) Genetics, ethics and audit. Lancet 335, 1145–1147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29.Clarke, A. (1991) Is non-directive genetic counselling possible? Lancet 338, 998–1001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30.Clarke, A., Parsons, E. and Williams, A. (1996) Outcomes and process in genetic counselling. Clinical Genetics (in press).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31.Alper, J. S. and Natowicz, M. R. (1992) The allure of genetic explanations. Scientists find them more attractive than social explanations. Brit. med. J. 305, 666.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
32.Lippman, A. (1992) Led (astray) by genetic maps: the cartography of the human genome and health care. Soc. Sci. Med. 35, 1469–1476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
33.Harper, P. S. (1992) Genetics and public health. Brit. med. J. 304, 721.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed