Five College Consortium

Do you own your body and who has the right to profit from your genetic materials? Does testing for genetic diseases on embryos before implantation constitute eugenics? Should one company own a patent on a genetic test for breast cancer? These questions, among others, provide the basis for an exploration of the emergence and growth of bioethics in the context of genetic research. Using perspectives from legal studies, ethics, anthropology, and the social studies of science, this course takes as its starting point the investigation of the close relationships and continuing tensions that have developed between the fields of genetics and bioethics, especially during the past two decades.