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Eighteenth Annual Darwin College Lecture Series 2003
Changing Science and Society
Lecture 4 : 7 February 2003
DNA and Ethics
Dr Onora O'Neill
Newnham College, Cambridge
We aren't short of public discussion of ethical issues arising from genetic
knowledge. Enthusiasts and scaremongers fill the columns and the airwaves
with their hopes and fears about 'designer babies', GM crops, pharmacogenetics
and a future in which everyone carries a genetic smart card. Each of these
possibilities, like any other complicated change, would raise ethical issues.
But the ethical issues that we actually face are rather different. Many have
to do with the use and control of genetic information. Is genetic information
exceptional? Are there good reasons to control access to it more tightly than
we control access to other sorts of personal or medical information? Does
genetic information 'belong' to individuals or to families? Could there be a
'right to know' the results of DNA tests taken by relatives, or a 'right not
to know'-- or both? How informed do we have to be to give informed consent
to genetic tests?
The lectures are given at 5.30 p.m. in The Lady Mitchell Hall,
Sidgwick Avenue, with an adjacent overflow theatre with live TV
coverage. Each lecture is typically attended by 600 people so you
must arrive early to ensure a place.
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