The Biobank as Political Artifact

The Struggle over Race in Categorizing Genetic Difference

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5741372
AutoresSandra Soo-Jin Lee (0000-0002-2312-9814, autor de correspondencia)
Año2015
Volumen661
Número1
Páginas143-159
Fecha de publicación2015-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002716215591141
OpenAlexW2283103807
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas23

This article discusses the institutional practices of classifying and creating taxonomies of difference within biobanks (repositories that store a broad range of biological materials, including DNA) and the technical and sociopolitical priorities that ultimately create biobanks. I argue that biobanks operate as political artifacts and that the social circumstances surrounding the development and use of biobanks determine what counts as meaningful difference within human genetic research. The massive collection of human DNA, blood, and tissues is critical to genomic medicine and the development and governance of biobanks structure knowledge that will ultimately bear on how population differences are interpreted and health disparities are framed. Careful consideration of how to avoid the conflation of concepts of race, ethnicity, and nationality with biological differences is necessary to identify effective interventions that will bear positively on health

Artifact (error) · Biobank · Biology · Business · Corporate governance · Engineering ethics · Ethnic group · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Biomedical Ethics and Regulation · Engineering · Ethics in Clinical Research · Genetics · Law · Race, Genetics, and Society