Adrian Pecotic, Undark; For Vulnerable Populations, the Thorny Ethics of Genetic Data Collection
To be equitable, genetics research needs more diverse samples. But collecting that data could present ethical issues.
"“When we do genetic studies, trying to understand the genetic basis
of common and complex diseases, we’re getting a biased snapshot,” said
Alicia Martin, a geneticist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and
the Broad Institute, a biomedical and genomics research center
affiliated with Harvard and MIT.
Research to capture these snapshots, called genome-wide association
studies, can only draw conclusions about the data that’s been collected.
Without studies that look at each underrepresented population, genetic
tests and therapies can’t be tailored to everyone. Still, projects
intended as correctives, like All of Us and the International HapMap Project, face an ethical conundrum: Collecting that data could exploit the very people the programs intend to help."
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