Biotechnology: A pastoral reflection

Theology Today, Apr 2002 by Cole-Turner, Ronald

Finally, I ask how Christians might use this technology as patients and as parents, and how pastors might encourage Christian use. Here, I believe, is where the real struggle against all versions of "Brave New Worlds" must be waged, if we are to have any chance at all.

GENETICS AS DISCRIMINATION

I begin by asking not what genetics is but why we want it so much. What human weaknesses does it tempt, and what sins does it seem to serve?

It is wise to remember that genetics is the science of discrimination. We begin with the suspicion, at least, that we want this science because we think that it lends legitimacy to discrimination of all forms. In its new form as molecular genetics, it promises to take discrimination to new levels of false precision and scientific authority and to fuel our ideas of superiority and inferiority. Already some have claimed that genetics supports racism.' This is false, of course, but we are dealing here not with legitimate science but ideological longing. Many nonscientists believe that the latest research supports the notion that certain traits-intelligence or athleticism, for example, or even criminality-are clustered in certain "races." In fact, recent research debunks the whole idea of race as a biological concept.2 If there is one big conclusion to draw from the Human Genome Project, it is that we are one species. Genetics may tell us how we are different, but it also tells us that our differences are trivial and superficial.

Quite apart from racial discrimination, we like to distinguish individuals from each other for many reasons, many of them suspect, and so we must ask whether genetics serves this desire in ways that are dangerous to our common humanity. We know that those among us with conditions we regard as handicaps are deeply apprehensive about our fondness for genetics. They see it as yet another threat to their existence. The challenge before us is whether we can pursue human genetic testing, the aim of which is to distinguish among human beings at the molecular level, without succumbing to discrimination at the social and economic levels. This challenge is legal and economic. Having a certain genetic sequence can threaten one's access to health insurance or employment. In this regard, we have to recognize that Americans have chosen to face the challenges of genetic discrimination on an uphill field, and we shall most likely lose in the quest for social and economic justice. Our system of private health insurance and the denial of universal access to health care make it highly desirable to corporations and dangerous to individuals to discover the health information contained in genes. Already physicians worry that some individuals forgo the potential benefits of genetic testing for fear of the risks of disclosure. Family members who share the genes share the fear, sometimes urging siblings not to be tested.

Nevertheless, the deeper challenge facing us is cultural and moral. We need to learn to make medically-significant genetic distinctions between individuals without inferring distinctions of status or value. For instance, it is medically useful to discover who responds best to what drug at what dose, and for whom the drug might be toxic. Thus we now have the discriminatory science of pharmacogenetics, which looks for ways to distinguish between patients who appear to have the same disease. The benefits are clear, yet we wonder: Is ours a culture that can safely handle discrimination in any form?