April 19, 2007
Genetics
First, Calvin on genetics and behavior.
Now Sally Lehrman writing in the Boston Globe on genetics and health:
As science begins to intertwine genetics, medicine, and race, the results already are affecting our lives in important ways. We may be offered different tests, drugs, even vitamins, depending on our skin color. In 2005, regulators approved the first race-based drug, BiDil, for treating heart failure in black patients. Some pharmacologists have wondered whether race should affect prescription dosage, based on possible differences in drug metabolism.
It's hard to talk about race in this country, but with a new medical enterprise focused on biological difference, we are forced to confront it. The onus is on us. Lay people don't have to become experts prepared to decide whether genetics will help solve race-based health inequities. But we do need to understand the nature of the conversation.