A Genetics Stigma: Exploring the Potential Stigmatizing Effect of Our Genotypes

The association of genetics, disease, and race has captured the attention of researchers and public health practitioners. As new discoveries on genetic risk factors and genetic traits continue to occur, there is growing concern over the social and ethical implications of these advances. This paper examines one ethical area of concern—-the potential for public health campaigns to inadvertently stigmatize individuals and groups based on their genomes. Undoubtedly, some people with certain genetic conditions are stigmatized, but a lack of research has examined why genetics in itself, as the identified cause of a condition, should exacerbate stigma or uniformly confer stigma to people diagnosed with a genetic condition or a predisposition to one (Sankar et al., 2006). At the same time, the potential stigma of being ‘labeled' as carriers of a disease or trait gene is likely to have enormous consequences for family, work, and personal environments (Serretti and Artioli, 2006). Despite the potentially consequential nature of genetic stigmatization, surprisingly few studies have directly investigated stigma in association with genetics. Given the lack of research on genetics as a stigma, this paper draws on several bodies of literature, including race-based medicine, genetic discrimination, and stigmatization, to assess the potential stigmatizing effects of the human genome. In particular, the paper focuses on the ways in which messages about genetics may unintentionally increase social inequality and exacerbate health disparities among minority groups. Based on a review of the literature, the paper also presents several empirical questions for future research in this area.