Race and ancestry in biomedical research: exploring the challenges.
The use of race in biomedical research has, for decades, been a source of social controversy. However, recent events, such as the adoption of racially targeted pharmaceuticals, have raised the profile of the race issue. In addition, we are entering an era in which genomic research is increasingly focused on the nature and extent of human genetic variation, often examined by population, which leads to heightened potential for misunderstandings or misuse of terms concerning genetic variation and race. Here, we draw together the perspectives of participants in a recent interdisciplinary workshop on ancestry and health in medicine in order to explore the use of race in research issue from the vantage point of a variety of disciplines. We review the nature of the race controversy in the context of biomedical research and highlight several challenges to policy action, including restrictions resulting from commercial or regulatory considerations, the difficulty in presenting precise terminology in the media, and drifting or ambiguous definitions of key terms.
Faculty of Law and School of Public Health Research, Health Law Institute, University of Alberta, 89 Ave and 111 St., T6G 2H5, Canada.
Timothy
T
Caulfield
Stephanie M
SM
Fullerton
Sarah E
SE
Ali-Khan
Laura
L
Arbour
Esteban G
EG
Burchard
Richard S
RS
Cooper
Billie-Jo
BJ
Hardy
Simrat
S
Harry
Robyn
R
Hyde-Lay
Jonathan
J
Kahn
Rick
R
Kittles
Barbara A
BA
Koenig
Sandra Sj
SS
Lee
Michael
M
Malinowski
Vardit
V
Ravitsky
Pamela
P
Sankar
Stephen W
SW
Scherer
Béatrice
B
Séguin
Darren
D
Shickle
Guilherme
G
Suarez-Kurtz
Abdallah S
AS
Daar