New public responsibilities for life scientists

“What your genes want you to eat”. This was the title of an article in the New York Times of 4 May 2003 on the ways in which the life sciences will influence food and drug choices of consumers and patients in the next decade. The author, a journalist by the name of Grierson, states that our diets and prescriptions will in the future be customized; to achieve this, consumers and patients will need continuous feedback between screening agents and food and drug consultants (such as general practitioners and dieticians) for continuous update of their gene passports or health cards and for relevant advice in response to new food products, drugs or scientific developments. The message of this journalist does not differ from those of other, less popular writers on the subject: if consumers are indeed health-driven and want to postpone death, then they must allow their genes to dominate their daily lives. That means allowing interaction between genes and lifestyles, even allowing life scientists and technologists to play a dominant role in their lives. The term ‘gene’ is indeed a metonymical expression of the whole life-science system and industry. An issue that the journalist does not address is whether consumers in future will have a say in what they put into their mouths and the related responsibility of life scientists. To tackle these questions, I will first outline the main developments in the life sciences during the last decade, and then discuss some aspects of the traditional concept of responsibility, which stresses the causal connections between agent and outcome. I will argue that, from a pragmatic point of view, the concept of different practices can help in delineating new grey zones between conducting research, rendering advice, screening consumers and patients, consulting the public, and prescribing and selling food stuffs and drugs. Moreover, I will make it clear that professional scientists have a public responsibility; they must build new Chinese Walls to raise the level of trust between themselves and the general public.