In the wake of the recently completed and widely publicized Human Genome Diversity project (HGDP), the potential of genomics, while certainly enormous, has risen to near-mythic proportions. As modern genomic research becomes more commonplace, and as the promise of genetic therapy creeps toward reality, the public may become increasingly inclined to subscribe to a theory of genetic essentialism-basically, the notion that our genes determine who we are. As one group of scholars explains, "An unintended byproduct of the genomics revolution is a naïve, almost religious faith in the power of genetics. The gene has become a powerful cultural icon; genetic explanations have a pride of place in the popular imagination." In light of this increasingly common perception, it is interesting to consider one of the more surprising conclusions of the HGDP: Human Beings share more than 99.9% of their DNA. Indeed, there is more genetic variation within a single race than there is among different races. This revelation has had critical implications for the meaning of race, which is now largely considered a social construct, rather than a biological reality. -Redefining Race: Can Genetic Testing Provide Biological Proof of Indian Ethnicity? by Eric Beckenhauer Stanford Law Review, Vol.56:161, October 2003
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 23:08:57 +0000
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