From Exploding the Gene Myth, by Ruth Hubbard and Elijah Wald (Beacon Press)

"...we need to question the current emphasis on genes in determining our development, health, and behavior. Focusing on genes leads almost inevitably to an assignment of values: these genes are good, those genes are bad. We may start with relatively clear cut cases like Tay-Sachs disease, which is invariably fatal in early childhood, but we almost immediately get into gray areas where people leading quite ordinary lives can suddenly find themselves stigmatized as defective...

Our new fixation on genes can only make us less confident about our bodily functioning and so increase our alienation from ourselves. We need to engage in active debates about the practical consequences of genetic forecasts for our self-image, our health, our work lives, our social relationship, and our privacy."

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