Guo, Sun-Wei (Author)
Following the successful cloning of genes for mostly rare genetic diseases in the early 1990s, there was a nearly universal enthusiasm that similar approaches could be employed to hunt down genes predisposing people to complex diseases. Around 1996, several well-funded international gene-hunting teams, enticed by the low cost of collecting biological samples and China's enormous population, and ushered in by some well-connected Chinese intermediaries, came to China to hunt down disease susceptibility genes. This alarmed and, in some cases, enraged many poorly funded Chinese scientists, who perceived them as formidable competitors. Some depicted foreign gene-hunters as greedy pilferers of the vast Chinese genetic gold mine, comparing it to the plundering of national treasures from China by invaders in the past, and called upon the government and their fellow countrymen to rise up and protect China's genetic gold mine. Media uproar ensued, proclaiming the imminent gene war of the century. This article chronicles the key events surrounding this war and its aftermath, exposes some inherent complexities in identifying susceptibility genes for complex diseases, highlights some issues obscured or completely overlooked in the passionate and patriotic rhetoric, and debunks some misconceptions embedded in this conflict. In addition, it argues that during the entire course of this war, the public's interest went conspicuously unmentioned. Finally, it articulates several lessons that can be learned from this conflict, and outlines challenges facing human genetics researchers.
...More
Article
Medeiros, Flavia Natercia da Silva;
(2013)
Fora da ordem natural: a natureza nos discursos sobre a clonagem e a pesquisa com células-tronco em jornais brasileiros
(/isis/citation/CBB001420696/)
Article
Ren, Jie;
Peters, Hans Peter;
Allgaier, Joachim;
Lo, Yin-Yueh;
(2014)
Similar Challenges but Different Responses: Media Coverage of Measles Vaccination in the UK and China
(/isis/citation/CBB001420070/)
Article
Jia, Hepeng;
Liu, Li;
(2014)
Unbalanced Progress: The Hard Road from Science Popularisation to Public Engagement with Science in China
(/isis/citation/CBB001420043/)
Book
Priest, Susanna Hornig;
(2001)
A Grain of Truth: The Media, the Public, and Biotechnology
(/isis/citation/CBB000631008/)
Article
Susan Lindee;
(2016)
Human genetics after the bomb: Archives, clinics, proving grounds and board rooms
(/isis/citation/CBB258919491/)
Book
Franklin, Sarah;
(2013)
Biological Relatives: IVF, Stem Cells, and the Future of Kinship
(/isis/citation/CBB001422164/)
Book
Macintosh, Kerry Lynn;
(2005)
Illegal Beings: Human Clones and the Law
(/isis/citation/CBB000650675/)
Article
Sgaramella, Vittorio;
(2003)
Human Cloning: Mission Futile, Dangerous or Impossible?
(/isis/citation/CBB000600336/)
Thesis
Liu, Patricia Ann;
(2011)
Creating Controversy: Science Writers, Corporate Funders, and Non-expert Scientists in the Debate over Prions (1982--1997)
(/isis/citation/CBB001562834/)
Article
Bowe, Brian J.;
Oshita, Tsuyoshi;
Terracina-Hartman, Carol;
Chao, Wen-Chi;
(2014)
Framing of Climate Change in Newspaper Coverage of the East Anglia E-Mail Scandal
(/isis/citation/CBB001420055/)
Article
Kate O’Riordan;
Aristea Fotopoulou;
Neil Stephens;
(2016)
The First Bite: Imaginaries, Promotional Publics and the Laboratory Grown Burger
(/isis/citation/CBB047335526/)
Article
Buys, Laurie;
Aird, Rosemary;
Megen, Kimberley van;
Miller, Evonne;
Sommerfeld, Jeffrey;
(2014)
Perceptions of Climate Change and Trust in Information Providers in Rural Australia
(/isis/citation/CBB001420056/)
Article
Boyd, Amanda D.;
Paveglio, Travis B.;
(2014)
Front Page or “Buried” beneath the Fold? Media Coverage of Carbon Capture and Storage
(/isis/citation/CBB001420073/)
Article
Jensen, Eric;
(2008)
The Dao of Human Cloning: Utopian/Dystopian Hype in the British Press and Popular Films
(/isis/citation/CBB000831215/)
Article
Sleeboom-Faulkner, Margaret;
(2008)
The Changing Nature of Ideology in the Life Sciences in Mainland China: Case-studies of Human Cloning and Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research (HESR) in Medical Textbooks (1996--2005)
(/isis/citation/CBB001036129/)
Article
Asayama, Shinichiro;
Ishii, Atsushi;
(2014)
Reconstruction of the Boundary between Climate Science and Politics: The IPCC in the Japanese Mass Media, 1988--2007
(/isis/citation/CBB001420057/)
Article
Ryuma Shineha;
(2016)
Attention to Stem Cell Research in Japanese Mass Media: Twenty-Year Macrotrends and the Gap between Media Attention and Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues
(/isis/citation/CBB032798904/)
Article
Rijswoud, Erwin van;
(2014)
Shifting Expert Configurations and the Public Credibility of Science: Boundary Work and Identity Work of Hydraulic Engineers (1980--2009)
(/isis/citation/CBB001420419/)
Article
Burgess, Michael M.;
(2014)
From “Trust Us” to Participatory Governance: Deliberative Publics and Science Policy
(/isis/citation/CBB001420046/)
Article
James Owen Weatherall;
Cailin O’Connor;
Justin P. Bruner;
(2020)
How to Beat Science and Influence People: Policymakers and Propaganda in Epistemic Networks
(/isis/citation/CBB187785214/)
Be the first to comment!