Abstract
As the rapidly advancing possibilities of biotechnology have outstripped the adaptive capacity of current legal and ethical institutions, a vigorous debate has arisen that considers the boundaries of appropriate use of this technology, particularly when applied to humans. This article examines ethical concerns surrounding the development of markets in a particular form of human genetic engineering in which heterozygotes are fitter than both homozygotes, a condition known as heterozygous advantage. To begin, we present a generalized model of the condition, illuminated by the application to sickle-cell anemia. Next, we propose a typology of related markets, some of which are currently functioning with available products and services, and others that are widely viewed as imminent. We suggest the manner in which perverse incentives may arise for firms that market genetic intervention in circumstances where heterozygous advantage is possible. Finally, we propose that this misalignment of incentives with social welfare has arisen from both ill-conceived market intervention where markets are capable of achieving efficient outcomes and the lack of market intervention where markets have failed. We offer specific legal and regulatory approaches for reform.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agius E., Busuttil S. (1998) Germ-Line Intervention and our Responsibilities to Future Generations. Springer, New York
Anderson W. F. (1998) Human Gene Therapy. Nature 392:25–30
Bailey R. (2005) Liberation Biology: The Scientific and Moral Case for the Biotech Revolution. Prometheus Books, Amherst
Billings P. R. et al. (1992) Discrimination as a Consequence of Genetic Testing. American Journal of Human Genetics 50: 476–482
Blank, R. and Merrick, J. C.: 1995, ‹Prenatal Intervention: Choosing the Characteristics of Unborn Children’, in Human Reproduction, Emerging Technologies, and Conflicting Rights (Congressional Quarterly Inc, Washington, D.C.) pp. 133–152
Bodmer W. F., Cavalli-Sforza L. L. (1976) Genetics, Evolution, and Man. W.H. Freeman, San Fransisco
Brookes M. (2004) Extreme Measures: The Dark Visions and Bright Ideas of Francis Galton. Bloomsbury, New York
Buchanan A., Brock D. W., Daniels N., Wikler D. (2000) From Chance to Choice: Genetics and Justice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
CDC Travelers Health URL, http://www.cdc.gov/travel/, November 5, 2005
Chang J. C., Lu R., Lin C., Xu S., Kan Y. W., Porcu S., Carlson E., Kitamura M., Yang S., Flebbe-Rehwaldt L., Gaensler K. M. L. (1998) Transgenic Knockout Mice Exclusively Expressing Human Hemoglobin S after Transfer of a 240-Kb S-Globin Yeast Artificial Chromosome: A Mouse Model of Sickle Cell Anemia. Genetics 95(25):14886–14890
Council for Responsible Genetics, http://www.gene-watch.org/educational/germline_ manipulationPP.pdf, downloaded November 5, 2005
Daniels N. (1999) Why Justice Is Good for Our Health: The Social Determinants of Health Inequalities. Daedalus 128:215
Dhanda R. K. (2002) Guiding Icarus: Merging Bioethics with Corporate Interests. Wiley-Liss, New York
Eaton, M. L.: 2004, Ethics and the Business of Bioscience (Stanford University Press)
Finegold D. L. (2005) BioIndustry Ethics. Academic, New York
Fisher, R. A.: 1922, ‚On the Dominance Ratio’, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 50, 205–220
Fisher R. A. (1930) The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection Clarendon Press, Oxford
Gallup J. L., Sachs J. (2001) The Economic Burden of Malaria. American Journal of Tropical Medical Hygiene 64(1, 2):85–96
Garreau J. (2005) Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies – and What It Means to Be Human. Doubleday, New York
Gates Foundation URL, http://www.gatesfoundation.org/GlobalHealth/Pri_Diseases/ Malaria/Annoucements/Annouce-051030.htm, 2005
Geever, R. F., L. B. Wilson, F. S. Nallaseth, P. F. Milner, M. Bittner and J. T. Wilson: 1981, ‚Direct Identification of Sickle Cell Anemia by Blot Hybridization’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 78(8), 5081–5085
Gillham N. W. (2001) A Life of Sir Francis Galton: From African Exploration to the Birth of Eugenics. Oxford University Press, New York
Glad J. (2005) Future Human Evolution: Eugenics in the Twenty-First Century. Hermitage, Pennsylvania
Haldane, J. B. S.: 1926, ‚A Mathematical Theory of Natural and Artificial Selection’, Part III. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophy Society 23, 363–372
Hardy G. H. (1908) Mendelian Proportions in a Mixed Population. Science 28: 49–50
Koeslag J. H., Schach S. R., Melzer C. W. (1984) Tay-Sachs Disease and the Persistence of Lethal Autosomal Recessive Genes in Human Populations. South African Medical Journal 66(3): 87–9
Ku C. L., Yang K., Bustamante J., Puel A., von Bernuth H., Santos O. F., Lawrence T., Chang H. H., Al-Mousa H., Picard C., Casanova J. L. (2005) Inherited Disorders of Human Toll-Like Receptor Signaling: Immunological Implications. Immunological Reviews 203(1):10
Lassnig, C., C. M. Sanchez, M. Egerbacher, I. Walter, S. Majer, T. Kolbe, P. Pallares, L. Enjuanes and M. Müller: 2005, ‚Development of a Transgenic Mouse Model Susceptible to Human Coronavirus 229E’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102(23), 8275–8280
Luo D., Saltzman W. M. (2000) Synthetic DNA Delivery Systems. Nature Biotechnology 18:33–37
MacDonald C. (2004) Higher Standards for Privately Funded Health Research. Canadian Bioethics Society Newsletter 9(1): 4–6
McCombie S. (1996) Treatment Seeking for Malaria: A Review of Recent Research. Social Science & Medicine 43(6):933–945
McCombie S. (2002) Self-treatment for Malaria: The Evidence and Methodological Issues. Health Policy and Planning 17(4):333–344
Mehlman M. (2000) The Law of Above Averages: Leveling the New Genetic Enhancement Playing Field. Iowa Law Review 85:517–593
Mehlman M. (2003) Wondergenes: Genetic Enhancement and the Future of Society. Indiana University Press, Bloomington
Meindl R. S. (1987) Hypothesis: A Selective Advantage for Cystic Fibrosis Heterozygotes. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 74(1):39–45
Naam R. (2005) More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement. Broadway Books, New York
National Bioethics Advisory Commission, http://www.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/nbac/pubs.html
National Review of Medicine: 2005, ‚Gates Puts Out Bounty on Malaria,’ http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/news_in_brief/2005/nb2_issue19_nov15_ pg2.html
O’Mahony P. (1999) Nature, Risk and Responsibility: Discourses of Biotechnology. Routledge, New York
Parens E., Asch A. (2002) Disability Rights Critique of Prenatal Genetic Testing: Reflections and Recommendations. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews 9(1):40–47
Pászty C., Mohandas N., Stevens M. E., Loring J. F., Liebhaber S. A., Brion C. M., Rubin E. M. (1995) Lethal Alpha-Thalassaemia Created by Gene Targeting in Mice and Its Genetic Rescue. Nature Genetics 11:33–39
Rawls J. (1999) A Theory of Justice. Belknap Press, Cambridge
Rawls J. (2001) Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. Belknap Press, Cambridge
Reichman L. B. (2001) Timebomb: The Global Epidemic of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis. McGraw-Hill, New York
Ridley M. (1996) Evolution. Blackwell, Oxford
Rosen, C.: 2003, ‚Eugenics – Sacred and Profane’, The New Atlantis 2, 79–89
Savulescu J. (2005) New Breeds of Humans: The Moral Obligation To Enhance. Reproductive BioMedicine Online 10(1):36–39
Savulescu J. (2001) Procreative Beneficence: Why We Should Select the Best Children. Bioethics 15(5/6): 413–426
Sprinkle R. H., Hynes D. M., Konrad T. R. (1995) Is Universal Neonatal Hemoglobinopathy Screening Cost-effective? Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 149(4):466–467
Spyropoulos B., Moens P. B., Davidson J., Lowden J. A. (1981) Heterozygous Advantage in Tay-Sachs Carriers?. American Journal of Human Genetics 33(3): 375–380
Testart J. (1995) The New Eugenics and Medicalized Reproduction. Cambridge Quarterly of Medical Ethics 4:304–307
Walters M. C., Sullivan K. M., Bernaudin F., Souillet G., Vannier J. P., Johnson F. L., Lenarsky C., Powars D., Bunin N., Ohene-Frempong K., Wall D., Michel G., Plouvier E., Bodigoni P., Lutz P., Sanders J. E., Matthews D. C., Patience M., Appelbaum F. R., Storb R. (1995) Neurologic Complications after Allogeneic Marrow Transplantation for Sickle Cell Anemia. Blood 85:879
Weinberg W. (1908) Über den Nachweis der Verebung beim Menschen. Jahreshefte des Vereins fÜr vaterländische Naturkunde in WÜrttemberg 64:368–382
Wright S. (1931) Evolution in Mendelian Populations. Genetics 16:97–159
Wu, D. Y., Ugozzoli, L., Pal, B. K. and Wallace, R. B.: 1989, ‚Allele-specific Enzymatic Amplification of Beta-globin Genomic DNA for Diagnosis of Sickle Cell Anemia’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 86(8), 2757–2760
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Gregory Todd Jones M.B.A., M.P.A., J.D., Ph.D., is Faculty Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta, Georgia, and Director of Research at the Interuniversity Consortium on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution.
Reidar Hagtvedt Siviløkonom, Cand. Merc., Ph.D., is Visiting Professor of Finance at the Terry College of Business, University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, Research Fellow at the Interuniversity Consortium on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, and a Ph.D. candidate in Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jones, G.T., Hagtvedt, R. Marketing in Heterozygous Advantage. J Bus Ethics 77, 85–97 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9301-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9301-4