Genetic Differences and Human Identities

T his report is one product of a large project un-dertaken by The Hastings Center and the Amer-ican Association for the Advancement of Science and funded by the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications division of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Mark Frankel and Audrey Chap-man (from AAAS) and I worked from the very beginning to develop the project and submit the grant application to NHGRI. From The Hastings Center, Erika Blacksher, Mark Hanson, and Ashby Sharpe also participated in these early discussions. We could not have completed the grant application, much less the project, without the tireless, erudite, and wise advice of V. Elving Anderson, professor emeritus of genetics at the University of Minnesota. All of us who participated in this project owe Elving a great debt of gratitude. Once the grant was under way, Audrey, Mark, Elv-ing and I were joined by Catherine Baker and Nancy Press to form a steering committee that shared the responsibility for making all of the decisions relevant to the project, from setting meeting agendas to identifying background readings, holding a public meeting in Washington, D.C., and creating a primer of be-havioral genetics, a book of essays, and this report. Working with Nancy, Cathy, Audrey, Mark, and Elving was a pleasure and an honor. The steering committee was part of a larger working group, whose members are listed on the facing page. On some topics, additional help was provided by consultants: We were joined at one of our working group meetings by members of the United Kingdom's Nuffield Council, which has explored similar questions: Administering such a complicated grant isn't always easy. My colleagues and I are deeply grateful to Joy Boyer at the ELSI office for her always thoughtful, kind, and patient support of our work. Over the years of the project we benefited from the logistical support of Kevin Alleman, Rachel Gray, and Sharon Leu at AAAS and from the research assistance of Hasbrouck at the Center, whose work made our project meetings both productive and pleasant. Thanks to Jaime Bishop and Eric Trump for their work in the office of the Hastings Center Report. Thanks also to the Report's art director, Nora Porter, for carefully reading and then creatively presenting this report. Gregory Kaebnick, editor of the Report, edited this special supplement not only for style, but also for content. It is wonderful to work with such a talented philosopher …