This study will explore the meaning of human genetics in popular culture, within the context of changing ideas about heredity and eugenics since the turn of the century. Drawing on the methods of social historians and communication studies, fiction, film, newspaper accounts and specialized publications will be examined. Key images and ideas about human heredity will be articulated, their meaning interpreted, and their roles in shaping the public response to findings in human genetics suggested.

This conference will bring together experts in science, ethics, and law, with experts in knowing and representing the needs of American Workers. The conference will build a base of knowledge among labor representatives about the Human Genome Project. It will contribute to further development of Workplace Health Fund initiatives to stimulate an ethically conducted and socially accepted search for effective medical interventions among workers who are at high risk of disease due to occupational exposures. And, it will meet at least two stated objectives of the NCHGR:

The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences will monitor the ongoing research of the HGP by drawing out its implications for theology and ethics. The project's long range value will be to provide interpretations of the data for use in public policy discussion and in genetic counseling. Six topics on the impact of new genome knowledge will be the subject of research:
-human nature, especially the relationship between biological determinism and human freedom;
-the relationship between divine and human agency in the creative process;
-evil and moral failure;

The purpose of this project is to contribute empirical data concerning the values, beliefs, and experiences of persons (or family members of persons) with genetic conditions regarding informational privacy and access to health insurance in the context of health care reform. These data then will be analyzed for their normative and legal implications for public policy. Using a cross-sectional design, data will be obtained by personal interviews with 450 persons affected by genetic conditions or their family members.

The purpose of this project is to analyze various conceptual frameworks for the development of policy with respect to genetics research, counseling, testing, screening, treatment and use of genetic information. The project will explore several theoretical models for overall regulation of medical genetics: the individual health model, the fundamental rights model, the public health model, and the equal opportunity model.

The proposed study will investigate the utilization and impact of DNA profiling (DNA 'fingerprinting') in criminal cases, exploring the integration of a powerful new technology into the criminal justice system. The study will attempt to identify and examine all cases in four Maryland jurisdictions in which DNA typing has been requested by the police, prosecution, or defense. It will compare cases prosecuted with DNA evidence to similar cases from the same jurisdictions in which DNA typing was not employed.

There is almost no systematic, empirical research on the topic of how information about genetic risk information travels through families, what family and cultural characteristics might impede or promote its dissemination, and how individuals at genetic risk conceptualize these issues. The purpose of this project is to explore these issues using risk information about breast and ovarian cancer as a model.

This project is focused on the ways in which two diagnostic technologies--screening mammography and genetic testing--emerged, diffused, interacted with medical and social thought and values, and provoked controversy. The central research questions are: What are the factors that have led to the dramatic shift in beliefs about, and practices surrounding, breast cancer risk over the past fifty years? What have been the consequences?

This conference, Genetics and Society: Impact of New Technologies on Law, Medicine, and Policy, will bring together more than 800 physicians, lawyers, ethicists, scientists, clergy, students, consumers, and consumer advocates to explore the opportunities and challenges emerging from today's research. The conference, organized by the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, in association with the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics (ASLME), will take place on May 10, 11, and 12, 2000.

The University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics and the University's Joint Degree Program in Law, Health &the Life Sciences will complete a comprehensive investigation of the ethical, legal, and policy issues in the use of genetic information in private and public disability insurance and to recommend policies based on our findings. To achieve the goals for this project, the investigators will convene an interdisciplinary working group comprised of some of the best U.S.