Genetic information plays an increasingly important role in ourlives. As a result of the Human Genome Project, knowledge ofthe genetic basis of various diseases is growing, withimportant consequences for the role of genetics in clinicalpractice, health care systems and for society at large. In theclinical setting genetic testing may result in a better insightinto susceptibility for inheritable diseases, not only before orafter birth, but also at later stages in life. Besides prenataltesting and pre-conceptional testing, predictive testing hasresulted in new possibilities for the early detection, treatmentand prevention of inheritable diseases. However, not all inheritable diseases that can be predicted onthe basis of genetic information can be treated or cured.Should we offer genetic tests to people for untreatablediseases? Should we test every individual who wants to knowhis or her genetic status? Should we inform family membersabout the results of genetic tests of individuals, even whenthere are no possibilities for treatment? What, in such cases,is the role of the "right-not-to-know"? Should we informfamily members when there is only an increased risk of adisease? This book deals with the ethical issues of clinicalgenetics, as well as ethical issues that arise in geneticscreening, the research of populations, and the use of geneticinformation for access to insurance and the workplace.

Investigations into the interplay of biological and legal conceptions of life, from government policies on cloning to DNA profiling by law enforcement. Legal texts have been with us since the dawn of human history. Beginning in 1953, life too became textual. The discovery of the structure of DNA made it possible to represent the basic matter of life with permutations and combinations of four letters of the alphabet, A, T, C, and G. Since then, the biological and legal conceptions of life have been in constant, mutually constitutive interplay-the former focusing on life's definition, the latter on life's entitlements. Reframing Rights argues that this period of transformative change in law and the life sciences should be considered "bioconstitutional." Reframing Rights explores the evolving relationship of biology, biotechnology, and law through a series of national and cross-national case studies. Sheila Jasanoff maps out the conceptual territory in a substantive editorial introduction, after which the contributors offer "snapshots" of developments at the frontiers of biotechnology and the law. Chapters examine such topics as national cloning and xenotransplant policies; the politics of stem cell research in Britain, Germany, and Italy; DNA profiling and DNA databases in criminal law; clinical trials in India and the United States; the GM crop controversy in Britain; and precautionary policymaking in the European Union. These cases demonstrate changes of constitutional significance in the relations among human bodies, selves, science, and the state.