Abstract
Expectations play a major role in ‘driving’ biotechnology research and development. However, their ethical significance has been largely overlooked. This article examines the dynamics and ethics of expectations surrounding biotechnologies, focusing on biobanks and the promise of personalised medicines. It explores the personal and social implications of expectations, especially where technologies fail to eventuate. The article identifies the claims and practices that support the expectations pertaining to biotechnologies and some of the factors that work against the fulfilment of predicted innovations. It is argued that the role of expectations in shaping thinking and action needs to be taken seriously by those who are concerned about the ethical implications of biotechnologies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brown, N. 2003. ‘Hope against hype: Accountability in biopasts, presents and futures’. Science Studies 16(2): 3–21.
Conrad, P. 1999. ‘Uses of expertise: Sources, quotes, and voice in the reporting of genetics in the news’. Public Understanding of Science 8: 285–302.
Corrigan, O.; Petersen, A. 2008. ‘UK Biobank: Bioethics as a technology of governance’. In Biobanks: Governance in Comparative Perspective, edited by Gottweis, H.; Petersen, A. London and New York: Routledge.
Davies, S.M. 2006. ‘Pharmacogenetics, pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine: Are we there yet?’ Hematology 1: 111–117.
Department of Health. 2003. Our Inheritance, Our Future: Realising the Potential of Genetics in the NHS. Norwich: HMSO.
Feero, W.G; Guttmacher, A.E; Collins, F.S. 2008. ‘The genome gets personal — almost’. JAMA 299(11): 1351–1352.
Gottweis, H.; Petersen, A. 2008. Biobanks: Governance in Comparative Perspective. London and New York: Routledge.
Hedgecoe, A. 2004. The Politics of Personalised Medicine: Pharmacogenetics in the Clinic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Holtzman, N.A; Marteau, T.M. 2000. ‘Will genetics revolutionize medicine?’ New England Journal of Medicine 343(2): 141–144.
Ikediobi, O.N. 2009. ‘Personalized medicine: Are we there yet?’ The Pharmacogenomics Journal 9: 85.
Jasanoff, S. 2005. Designs on Nature: Science and Democracy in Europe and the United States. Princeton, NJ & Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Jones, B. 2009. ‘Recession threatens UK stem cell progress’. BIONEWS 503, 7–14 April. Progress Education Trust: London.
Langreth, R. 2008. ‘Biotech blues’. Forbes Magazine, 12 January 2009 (Available at: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0112/090.html; accessed 10 April 2009).
Law, J. 2006. Big Pharma: How the World’s Biggest Drug Companies Control Illness. London: Constable & Robinson.
McNamara, B.; Petersen, A. 2008. ‘Framing consent: The politics of “engagement” in an Australian biobank project’. In Biobanks: Governance in Comparative Perspective, edited by Gottweis, H.; Petersen, A. London and New York: Routledge.
Moynihan, R.; Cassels, A. 2005. Selling Sickness: How Drug Companies Are Turning us all Into Patients. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin.
Pálsson, G. 2008. ‘The rise and fall of a biobank: The case of Iceland’. In Biobanks: Governance in Comparative Perspective, edited by Gottweis, H.; Petersen, A. London and New York: Routledge.
Petersen, A. 2001. ‘Biofantasies: Genetics and medicine in the print news media’. Social Science and Medicine 52: 1255–1268.
Petersen, A. 2002. ‘Replicating our bodies, losing our selves: News media portrayals of human cloning in the wake of Dolly’. Body & Society 8(4): 71–90.
Petersen, A. 2005. ‘Securing our genetic health: Engendering trust in UK Biobank. Sociology of Health and Illness 27(2): 271–292.
Petersen, A; Anderson, A; Allan, S. 2005. ‘Science fiction/science fact: Medical genetics in fictional and news stories’. New Genetics and Society 24(3): 337–353.
Petersen, A. 2006. ‘The genetic conception of health: Is it as radical as claimed?’ Health 10(4): 481–500.
Rout, M. 2009. ‘Doctor hounded by Vioxx drug reps’. The Australian, 15 April, p. 3.
Sharp, A. 2009. ‘Drug industry set for lower margins’. The Age (Business Day), 14 April, p. 3.
The Royal Society. 2005. Personalised Medicines: Hopes and Realities. London: Royal Society.
Walters, K. 2009. ‘Biotech: The treatment regime of chronic illness is set to change’. BRW, 19–25 March, p. 23.
Wynne, B. 2006. ‘Public engagement as a means of restoring public trust in science — hitting the notes, but missing the music?’ Community Genetics 9: 211–220.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Petersen, A. The Ethics of Expectations. Monash Bioethics Review 28, 22–33 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03351307
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03351307