Biopolitical Barriers to a Potterian Bioethics: The (Potentially) Missed Opportunity of Epigenetics (original) (raw)
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Epigenetics and the Environment in Bioethics 2014
Bioethics, 2014
A rich literature in public health has demonstrated that health is strongly influenced by a host of environmental factors that can vary according to social, economic, geographic, cultural or physical contexts. Bioethicists should, we argue, recognize this and -where appropriate -work to integrate environmental concerns into their field of study and their ethical deliberations. In this article, we present an argument grounded in scientific research at the molecular level that will be familiar to -and so hopefully more persuasive for -the biomedically-inclined in the bioethics community. Specifically, we argue that the relatively new field of molecular epigenetics provides novel information that should serve as additional justification for expanding the scope of bioethics to include environmental and public health concerns. We begin by presenting two distinct visions of bioethics: the individualistic and rights-oriented and the communitarian and responsibilityoriented. We follow with a description of biochemical characteristics distinguishing epigenetics from genetics, in order to emphasize the very close relationship that exists between the environment and gene expression. This then leads to a discussion of the importance of the environment in determining individual and population health, which, we argue, should shift bioethics towards a Potterian view that promotes a communitarian-based sense of responsibility for the environment, in order to fully account for justice considerations and improve public health.
EPIGENETICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL BIOETHICS
Despite being a new area of scientific knowledge, Bioethics has developed two main references that alternate temporally: a more global Ethics, as the one defended by Potter, and the Georgetown model, which was limited to the issue of Medical Ethics, revitalizing the practical Ethics. In the last decades, a widening of Bioethics is being followed up and it came to be recognized as a new transdisciplinary discipline that is inseparable from concerns about the environment. The advancements of Genetics and the creation of Epigenetics opened new paths to Bioethics. The interaction between the environment and the structure of DNA became known, but modifications that can be passed on to the offspring without affecting the structure of the DNA were also discovered. This paper is dedicated to the analysis of the changes that can hereditarily be passed on to future generations through the interference of the environment , from Rachel Yehuda et al's recent article: Holocaust exposure induced intergenerational effects on FKBP5 methylation. Yehuda's study allowed for a glimpse over what unfolds for the future of Bioethics, its new challenges and issues and it also evidenced the fact that health and environment are in constant and inseparable connection.
Epigenetics and the Environment in Bioethics
2014
A rich literature in public health has demonstrated that health is strongly influenced by a host of environmental factors that can vary according to social, economic, geographic, cultural or physical contexts. Bioethicists should, we argue, recognize this and – where appropriate – work to integrate environmental concerns into their field of study and their ethical deliberations. In this article, we present an argument grounded in scientific research at the molecular level that will be familiar to – and so hopefully more persuasive for – the biomedically-inclined in the bioethics community. Specifically, we argue that the relatively new field of molecular epigenetics provides novel information that should serve as additional justification for expanding the scope of bioethics to include environmental and public health concerns. We begin by presenting two distinct visions of bioethics: the individualistic and rights-oriented and the communitarian and responsibility-oriented. We follow with a description of biochemical characteristics distinguishing epigenetics from genetics, in order to emphasize the very close relationship that exists between the environment and gene expression. This then leads to a discussion of the importance of the environment in determining individual and population health, which, we argue, should shift bioethics towards a Potterian view that promotes a communitarian-based sense of responsibility for the environment, in order to fully account for justice considerations and improve public health.
The Ghost in Our Genes: Legal and Ethical Implications of Epigenetics
Health matrix
Epigenetics is one of the most scientifically important, and legally and ethically significant, cutting-edge subjects of scientific discovery. Epigenetics link environmental and genetic influences on the traits and characteristics of an individual, and new discoveries reveal that a large range of environmental, dietary, behavioral, and medical experiences can significantly affect the future development and health of an individual and their offspring. This article describes and analyzes the ethical and legal implications of these new scientific findings.
New understanding of epigenetics and consequences for
2007
Genetic variation is controlled by two different mechanisms: genetic and epigenetic. Genetic variations are based on differences in DNA-sequences due to mutation and recombination events. Epigenetic variations, on the other hand, are not encoded through the nucleotide sequences of DNA, but rather through the chemical modification of either DNA or its associated proteins which results in certain genes being turned on or off. It appears that methylation, but also acetylation or ubiquitylation, lead to different molecular outcomes, resulting in phenomena such as the inactivation of the X-chromosome, genomic imprinting, or different types of cancer. Epigenetics will have profound effects on our understanding of human and environmental health by forcing us to look afresh on interactions between (wo)men with their natural and social environment and by adding a transgenerational, even evolutionary, aspect to the debate. These findings could strengthen emerging thoughts about sustainable and responsible care taking of our environment and consequently of our health through it.
EMBO reports, 2017
In recent years, research on how the human environment and lifestyle influence gene expression has generated considerable scientific and public interest. Articles in prominent international newspapers with headlines such as “Why your DNA isn't your destiny” (Time Magazine in 2010) or “Poverty leaves traces in children's genome” (Süddeutsche Zeitung in 2016) have drawn public interest to the emerging field of environmental epigenetics. It is a subdivision of the much more heterogeneous research field of epigenetics, which aims to understand how interactions between the environment and the genome can lead to epigenetic modifications that affect gene expression. Environmental epigenetics is often heralded as providing a revolutionary perspective on disease aetiology, particularly with regard to so‐called lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes. It is also often presented as a vital new framework for understanding differences in the susceptibility and resilience to mental illness and the long‐term damaging effects of a wide variety of environmental factors.
Mapping the New Molecular Landscape: Social and Ethical Aspects of Epigenetics.
New Genetics & Society, 2013
Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the DNA itself. The field is rapidly growing and being widely promoted, attracting attention in diverse arenas. These include those of the social sciences, where some researchers have been encouraged by the resonance between imaginaries of development within epigenetics and social theory. Yet, sustained attention from science and technology studies (STS) scholars to epigenetics and the praxis it propels has been lacking. In this article, we reflexively consider some of the ways in which epigenetics is being constructed as an area of biomedical novelty and discuss the content and logics underlying the ambivalent promises being made by scientists working in this area. We then reflect on the scope, limits and future of engagements between epigenetics and the social sciences. Our discussion is situated within wider literatures on biomedicine and society, the politics of “interventionist STS”, and on the problems of “caseness” within empirical social science.
Epigenetics and the Autosomal DNA of Human Populations, by Anne Marie Fine and Donald N. Yates
International Journal of Community Diversity, vol. 13, 2014
Abstract: Although the fields of direct-to-the-consumer DNA testing and genetic counseling have experienced rapid growth in the past five years in providing people with increasingly accurate analyses of their ancestry, admixture, family medical history and risk factors for disease, the subtle role of epigenetics in heredity has so far not been comparably exploited in medical research nor greatly appreciated by the wider public. The history of DNA testing in the consumer realm reveals a shift from sex-linked testing and easily traced Y chromosome and mitochondrial lines of descent to an emphasis on autosomal results, which are more diversified, complex and determinative. Matches showing ancestral relatedness are now possible to autosomal populations based on forensic science, ethnic strains and multi-generational markers, such as Native American and Jewish. Epigenetics, defined as the superstructure of genes, is beginning to be linked to population genetics to explore the environmental effect upon genes, nutrition and a host of transgenerational factors in susceptibility to diabetes, cancer, stress and other diseases or conditions. Specific areas discussed here are the Dutch Hunger Winter Study, methylation, cancer, stress, environmental toxins including fungicides and air pollution and neurological diseases. The emerging field of epigenetics with its emphasis on environment and nutrition is thus superseding the older model of genetic determinism in dictating people's health decisions, self-identity and ways of understanding their individual ancestry and ethnicity.