Scientists conducting human genome research are identifying genetic disorders and traits at an accelerating rate. Genetic factors in human behavior appear particularly complex and slow to emerge, yet are raising their own set of difficult ethical, legal, and social issues. In "Behavioral Genetics: The Clash of Culture and Biology," Ronald Carson and Mark Rothstein bring together well-known experts from the fields of genetics, ethics, neuroscience, psychiatry, sociology, and law to address the cultural, legal, and biological underpinnings of behavioral genetics. The authors discuss a broad range of topics, including the ethical questions arising from gene therapy and screening, molecular research in psychiatry, and the legal ramifications and social consequences of behavioral genetic information. Throughout, they focus on two basic concerns: the quality of the science behind behavioral genetic claims and the need to formulate an appropriate, ethically defensible response when the science turns out to be good.

The dramatic explosion of information brought about by recent advances in genetic research brings welcome scientific knowledge. Yet this new knowledge also raises complex and troubling issues concerning privacy and confidentiality. This thought-provoking book is the first comprehensive exploration of these ethical, legal, and social issues. Distinguished experts in law, medicine, bioethics, public health, science policy, clinical genetics, philosophy, and other fields consider the many contexts in which issues of genetic privacy arise-from research and clinical settings to workplaces, insurance offices, schools, and the courts. The first chapters of this book set out a framework for analyzing genetic privacy and confidentiality, comparing genetic privacy with other forms of medical privacy. Later chapters deal with such topics as concerns that arise in the health care setting (the patient-physician relationship, genetic counseling and privacy); the effect of new technology (the role of commercial genomics, forensic DNA applications); nonmedical uses of genetic information (the law of medical and genetic privacy in the workplace, implications of genetic testing for health and life insurance); and a review of ethics and law in the United States and abroad. In the concluding chapter, Mark A. Rothstein discusses flaws in existing and proposed legislation designed to protect genetic privacy and confidentiality, and he offers a new set of guidelines for policy makers.

"The volume deserves our serious attention. The authors have provided us an invaluable primer about the HGP and its implications for the future of American health care." Jurimetrics

"This book does make a real contribution... in explaining why the genetics
revolution holds so much promise and why it is so difficult to bring that promise to fruition." The Journal of Legal Medicine

..". marked by a forward-looking, analytically and empirically grounded thematic coherence. The editors carefully crafted template and contributions successfully focus and organize the material." Annals of Internal Medicine

"Excellent" Canadian Medical Association Journal

"The editors have done a very good job integrating the contents into a very useful and readable information source." Choice

..". this highly focused book is a well-written, thoughtful, and insightful consideration of the HGP and is valuable reading for anyone concerned with the future of our country's medical infrastructure." Science Books & Films (**Highly recommended)

"A distinguished group of scientists, lawyers, and scholars have written a coherent, readable account of the legal, medical, ethical, and policy issues many (if not all) of us will be wrestling with on both a personal and a public level, as a result of current genetic research." Library Journal

"Each of the contributors is a distinguished authority on the topic. Ethicists, especially, will find well-developed presentation of issues, with exposition of the differing ethical assumptions in tension in the society debate." Doody s Health Sciences Book Review Home Page

How will the science of gene mapping and gene manipulation affect health care? Leading scholars explore the clinical, ethical, legal, and policy implications of the Human Genome Project for the forms of health care, who delivers it, who receives it, and who pays for it."