The new genetics: some issues for social scientists

This paper considers some of the social consequences of the deployment of techniques arising from recombinant DNA technology, the new genetics. It concentrates on late onset dominantly inherited conditions such as Huntington's disease and hereditary ovarian and breast cancer and recessively inherited disease such as β thalassaemia and cystic fibrosis. It is argued that there are widely held lay beliefs about inheritance which are often at variance with the Mendelian theories of geneticists. The nature of these beliefs and the extent to which people feel prone to genetic disease allow an explanation of the use made of genetic services. It is argued that there are many issues related to the new genetics, and inheritance more generally, which deserve more systematic study from social scientists and that, in particular, these should be approached as family issues.