Geneticization is both an emerging ideology and a set of practices, a combination that has enormous potential to divert attention (research and political) from the structural changes necessary for true health promotion. Moreover, in its implicit assumptions of individual responsibility for the maintenance, if not the improvement, of a "disease-free" existence and its substantial economic implications (profits for private biotechnology companies; alleged "savings" for governments), geneticization is in conflict with more holistic and justice-based concepts of health and wellbeing. This paper will argue that reliance on individual "choice" and on the legal protections of genetic privacy and genetic "nondiscrimination," while necessary conditions, are not sufficient to ensure that applications of genetics will promote health. To the contrary, I will explore how the incorporation of genetics into "public health" programs and thinking is not only an example of geneticization, but that this "marriage of convenience" brings specific harms to health.
Learning Objectives: N/A
Keywords: Bioethics, Epidemiology
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.