Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-dwq4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T14:16:28.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Group Categories in Pharmacogenetics Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Lisa Gannett
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Current controversy over whether the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) system of racial and ethnic classification should be used in pharmacogenetics research as suggested by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has been couched in terms of realist-social constructionist debates on race. The assumptions both parties to these debates share instead need to be relinquished—specifically, dichotomies between the social and scientific and what is descriptive and evaluative/normative. This paper defends a pragmatic approach to the question of the appropriateness of the OMB group categories in pharmacogenetics research, an approach that is local and context-specific rather than global, incorporates practical and ethical as well as theoretical dimensions, and recognizes intersections of the social and the biological in the constitution of group categories.

Type
Race and Science
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 72 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2004 Biennial Meeting of The Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers , December 2005 , pp. 1232 - 1247
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

‡

I would like to thank Wendy Hui Kyong Chun for the conference invitation which initiated this paper. Besides PSA 2004, versions of the paper were presented in Fall 2003 at Harvard University's Color Lines Conference and Canadian and Pacific SWIP conferences, and during 2004 to philosophy departments at Cape Breton University, Saint Mary's University, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and University at Albany–SUNY, and the history and philosophy of science department at Indiana University. My thanks to conference organizers and all of these audiences for their helpful comments and generous hospitality, and to Melinda Fagan, Malia Fullerton, Jim Griesemer, and Kathleen Okruhlik whose contributions made this a better paper.

References

Bamshad, Michael J., Wooding, Stephen, Watkins, W. Scott, Ostler, Christopher T., Batzer, Mark A., and Jorde, Lynn B. (2003), “Human Population Structure and Inference of Group Membership”, Human Population Structure and Inference of Group Membership 72:578–589.Google ScholarPubMed
Bowcock, A. M., Ruiz-Linares, A., Tomfohrde, J., Minch, E., Kidd, J. R., and Cavalli-Sforza, L. L. (1994), “High Resolution of Human Evolutionary Trees with Polymorphic Satellites”, High Resolution of Human Evolutionary Trees with Polymorphic Satellites 368:455–457.Google Scholar
Cann, Rebecca L., Stoneking, Mark, and Wilson, Allan C. (1987), “Mitochondrial DNA and Human Evolution”, Mitochondrial DNA and Human Evolution 325:31–36.Google ScholarPubMed
Cavalli-Sforza, L. Luca, Menozzi, Paolo, and Piazza, Alberto (1994), The History and Geography of Human Genes. Abridged. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cho, Mildred K., and Sankar, Pamela (2004), “Forensic Genetics and Ethical, Legal and Social Implications beyond the Clinic”, Forensic Genetics and Ethical, Legal and Social Implications beyond the Clinic 36:S8–S12.Google ScholarPubMed
Collins, Francis S., Green, Eric D., Guttmacher, Alan E., and Guyer, Mark S. (2003), “A Vision for the Future of Genomics Research: A Blueprint for the Genomic Era”, A Vision for the Future of Genomics Research: A Blueprint for the Genomic Era 422:1–13.Google Scholar
Collins, Francis S., Patrinos, Ari, Jordan, Elke, Chakravarti, Aravinda, Gesteland, Raymond, and Walters, LeRoy (1998), “New Goals for the U.S. Human Genome Project: 1998–2003”, New Goals for the U.S. Human Genome Project: 1998–2003 282:682–689.Google ScholarPubMed
Duster, Troy (2003), “Unlikely Mix: Race, Biology, and Drugs”, San Francisco Chronicle (March 17).Google Scholar
Gannett, Lisa (2004), “The Biological Reification of Race”, The Biological Reification of Race 55:323–345.Google Scholar
Gannett, Lisa, and Griesemer, James R. (2004), “The ABO Blood Groups: Mapping the History and Geography of Genes in Homo sapiens”, in Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg and Gaudillière, Jean-Paul (eds.), Mapping Cultures of Twentieth Century Genetics. New York: Routledge, 119–172.Google Scholar
Goodman, Alan H. (2000), “Why Genes Don’t Count (for Racial Differences in Health)”, Why Genes Don’t Count (for Racial Differences in Health) 90:1699–1702.Google Scholar
Haga, Susanne B., and Venter, J. Craig (2003), “FDA Races in Wrong Direction”, FDA Races in Wrong Direction 301: 466.Google ScholarPubMed
Henig, Robin Morantz (2004), “The Genome in Black and White (and Gray)”, New York Times (October 10).Google Scholar
Kahn, Jonathan (2004), “How a Drug Becomes ‘Ethnic’: Law, Commerce, and the Production of Racial Categories in Medicine”, How a Drug Becomes ‘Ethnic’: Law, Commerce, and the Production of Racial Categories in Medicine 4:1–46.Google ScholarPubMed
Latour, Bruno (1999), Pandora’s Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Lewontin, Richard C. (1972), “The Apportionment of Human Diversity”, The Apportionment of Human Diversity 6:381–398.Google Scholar
Limoges, Camille (1994), “Errare Humanum Est: Do Genetic Errors Have a Future?”, in Cranor, Carl F. (ed.), Are Genes Us? The Social Consequences of the New Genetics. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 113–124.Google Scholar
Maugh, Thomas H. II (2004), “Drugs for Only Blacks Stirs Hope, Concern”, Los Angeles Times (November 9).Google Scholar
Mountain, Joanna L., and Luca Cavalli-Sforza, L. (1997), “Multilocus Genotypes, a Tree of Individuals, and Human Evolutionary History”, Multilocus Genotypes, a Tree of Individuals, and Human Evolutionary History 61:705–718.Google ScholarPubMed
Nei, Matoshi, and Roychoudhury, A. K. (1974), “Genic Variation Within and Between the Three Major Races of Man, Caucasoids, Negroids, and Mongoloids”, Genic Variation Within and Between the Three Major Races of Man, Caucasoids, Negroids, and Mongoloids 26:421–443.Google ScholarPubMed
Patrinos, Ari (2004), “‘Race’ and the Human Genome”, ‘Race’ and the Human Genome 36:S1–S2.Google ScholarPubMed
Pritchard, Jonathan K., Stephens, Matthew, and Donnelly, Peter (2000), “Inference of Population Structure Using Multilocus Genotype Data”, Inference of Population Structure Using Multilocus Genotype Data 155:945–959.Google ScholarPubMed
Rosenberg, Noah A., Pritchard, Jonathan K., Weber, James L., Cann, Howard M., Kidd, Kenneth K., Zhivotovsky, Lev A., and Feldman, Marcus W. (2002), “Genetic Structure of Human Populations”, Genetic Structure of Human Populations 298:2381–2385.Google ScholarPubMed
Royal, Charmaine D. M., and Dunston, Georgia M. (2004), “Changing the Paradigm from ‘Race’ to Human Genome Variation”, Changing the Paradigm from ‘Race’ to Human Genome Variation 36:S5–S7.Google ScholarPubMed
Satel, Sally (2002), “I Am a Racially Profiling Doctor”, New York Times (May 5).Google Scholar
Schultz, James (2003), “FDA Guidelines on Race and Ethnicity: Obstacle or Remedy?”, FDA Guidelines on Race and Ethnicity: Obstacle or Remedy? 95:425–426.Google ScholarPubMed
Serre, David, and Pääbo, Svante (2004), “Evidence for Gradients of Human Genetic Diversity Within and Among Continents”, Evidence for Gradients of Human Genetic Diversity Within and Among Continents 14:1679–1685.Google ScholarPubMed
Templeton, Alan R. (1998), “Human Races: A Genetic and Evolutionary Perspective”, Human Races: A Genetic and Evolutionary Perspective 100:632–650.Google Scholar
“The Unexamined Population” (2004) (editorial), Nature Genetics Supplement 36: S3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, and Office of the Commissioner (FDA) (2003), Guidance for Industry: Collection of Race and Ethnicity Data in Clinical Trials. http://www.fda.gov/cder/guidance/5054dft.pdfGoogle Scholar
Wade, Nicholas (2002), “Gene Study Identifies 5 Main Human Populations”, New York Times (December 20).Google Scholar
Wade, Nicholas (2004), “Race-Based Medicine Continued …”, New York Times (November 14).Google Scholar
“White House Remarks on Decoding of Genome” (2000) (transcript), New York Times (June 27).Google Scholar
Wilson, James F., Weale, Michael E., Smith, Alice C., Gratix, Fiona, Fletcher, Benjamin, Thomas, Mark G., Bradman, Neil, and Goldstein, David B. (2001), “Population Genetic Structure of Variable Drug Response”, Population Genetic Structure of Variable Drug Response 29:265–269.Google ScholarPubMed