Archive for the ‘Features’ Category

The appearance in 1998 of a new medicine for an intractable and especially savage form of breast cancer was a medical milestone for two reasons. For one, the drug, called Herceptin, shrank tumors and prolonged lives. What received much less attention, however, was the unique way in which ... Full story

It is no secret that the discoveries of the science of biotechnology are, in the words of Eric Lander at a GeneMedia forum ,Director of the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research, "transforming events." They challenge the notion of race, so deeply imbedded in our culture. They will change the nature of the fight against disease. They ... Full story

Although there is a growing literature on ethics and genetics, surprisingly little of it deals directly with how ordinary people have fit this new knowledge and ethics into their lives. How culture influences the use of genetic services is only rarely taken into account. An anthropologist might ask: How much do ... Full story