The Genome Project and Technologies of Enhancement

The goal of this project is to identify and analyze the challenges that genetic enhancements pose for American health policy and social policy. It will place genetics into the context of other medical technologies of enhancement, and, thereby, clarify the dynamics promoting their use and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of regulatory practices. Although genetic enhancement is still in a fledgling state, technologies under development are soon likely to create new and powerful interventions. Accordingly, the project will conduct intensive analysis of three critical areas:
- the discovery of hormones and the origins of enhancement technologies, 1900-1940;
- the recent experience with physical enhancement through the use of growth hormones; and recent experience with performance enhancement through the use of psychopharmacological agents.
The project will then apply the findings of this research to the public policy issues presented by genetic enhancement. The relevance and significance of this project rests in its presentation of a new and more comprehensive framework for understanding and responding to genetic enhancements.