The new genomics:

Are new concepts needed in biomedical ethics to keep pace with the developments in postHuman Genome Project genomics? This thesis examines the challenges that developments in post-Human Genome Project (HGP) genomics pose to the established concepts and practices of – Western world – biomedical ethics. These challenges are relevant to the various roles that ethics plays, as for example, its role in the design and the conduct of research, its role in the translation of knowledge and technologies beyond the research stage, and its role as an instrument of governance. In short, the question here is not about the ways in which ethics influences genomics, as for example by putting constraints on certain applications, but rather the other way round: how does genomics impact on applied ethics and on the role of ethicists. And: what does it mean for the future, given the pace of the developments in the genomics sciences.