AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion

News & Events: Workshop

In 1996 a dialogue group was convened to consider the possible discriminatory uses to which genetic information might be put, particularly in those cases where a genetic disease or a predisposition to disease is identified. The group's members included academic scientists, ethicists, and theologians, religious leaders of different faiths, and representatives from consumer and patient advocacy groups, government, and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. A product of this dialogue was a statement on genetic discrimination in health insurance in those instances where there is a predisposition to disease without a diagnosis of a specific illness.