CHB1020 Ethics, Genetics and the Law: Justice and the New Biotechnologies
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Handbook entry- a brief description of the subject can be found in the handbook entry. The handbook also provides information about the unit leader, the semester and mode in which the unit is available, the contact hours and the assessment requirements.
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MUSO/Blackboard site - there is a MUSO/Blackboard site for this unit where assessment tasks, lecture notes and other unit resources will be posted. Once enrolled, students taking this unit are advised to check MUSO/Blackboard regularly.
Subject description:
This unit investigates how the law and public policy should respond to the new circumstances and problems that arise in connection with advances in biotechnology, particularly genetics. For example, increasing knowledge of the human genome may provide opportunities for employers or insurance companies to discriminate among applicants on the basis of their genetic profile.
Ever increasing genetic research opens up new possibilities for privacy to be breached raising the question of whether the law should require strict privacy about individuals’ genetic make-up, or whether individuals have a duty to share their genetic knowledge. The possibility of genetic enhancements in the future presses the question of how much difference between the genetic ‘haves’ and the genetic ‘have nots’ society should tolerate.
Discovering genetic bases for various diseases and other traits also raises perplexing questions of personal responsibility. For example, should people who commit crimes receive a lesser punishment if tests reveal a biological basis for their conduct? And should we hold people at least partly responsible for their own ill health, for example, if it results from years of excessive alcohol consumption? Would the discovery of a genetic basis for alcoholism change our answer to this question?
Finally, medical research, including genetic research, is expanding and more frequently being undertaken in poorer, developing countries. We will look at a range of complex issues that arise concerning informed consent and exploitation in these contexts.
The course will cover both ethical debates surrounding public policy and the law and look at actual examples of public policy and law in these areas from Australia and elsewhere.