Genetics as Culture in a Consumerist Age

Date: 10/27/2011, 08:45h to 10/29/2011, 13:00h

Location:
Hotel Grauer Bär
Universitätsstraße 5
Innsbruck
Österreich

Further information: http://www.i-med.ac.at/ethucation/Veranstaltungen/Tagung_201...

Description: Obtaining health-related genomic information is no longer restricted to the clinical realm. Genome-wide analyses to identify genetic predispositions for a range of conditions, including rare diseases as well as common, multi-factorial diseases like cancer, diabetes, or heart disease, can now be purchased online. Similarly, tests for genetic ancestry, paternity, or “recreational traits” such as athletic propensities, can be obtained direct-to-consumer (DTC) from commercial companies. Social networking tools are used by individuals not only to share their individual genetic profiles, but also to actively participate in disease research, thereby complicating some of the core categories that the organisation of disease research and health care rests upon: experts and lay persons, gate-keepers and specialists, and producers and recipients/consumers of knowledge. The ethical and legal debate about such developments has just started. This symposium will explore the mutual relationship between genetics, markets and societies in this field. Our aim is to facilitate an interdisciplinary debate on whether and how socio-cultural factors influence attitudes towards the usage of, and the belief in, genetics 2.0. Furthermore, we seek to explore how individual and collective identities are challenged by cultural meanings of genetics.

Contact:
Gabriele Werner-Felmayer
Medizinische Universität Innsbruck
Christoph-Probst-Platz
Innrain 52
6020 Innsbruck
Österreich
Phone: 0043-512-9003-70341
Fax: 0043-512-9003-73330
gabriele.werner-felmayer@i-med.ac.at
http://www.i-med.ac.at/ethucation/

Organizer: Division of Biological Chemistry, Biocenter, and Bioethics Network Ethucation, Medical University of Innsbruck; Culture and Ethics of Biomedicine, University Medical Center, University of Göttingen; Department of Sociology and Communications, Brunel University London

Keywords: research ethics; research law; genetic tests/counselling; genetic research/technology; genome analysis; health system; disease; medical ethics