Workshop: Anthropology, Genetic Diversity and Ethics to be held in February 1999 at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

在过去的十年里，生物技术的发展创造了一种前所未有的能力来研究我们物种的遗传变异。这些数据可以应用于许多重要领域，包括重建现代人类种群之间的关系、人类适应的机制、人类迁徙的途径和基因对各种人类疾病的贡献。生物人类学家、人口遗传学家、历史语言学家和其他感兴趣学科的成员可能会从对全球DNA变异的分析中获得更深入的了解。那些捐赠基因样本的人也许有一天也会受益于对潜在疾病过程的生物学理解。美国国家科学院（National Academy of Sciences）表示，一项研究人类基因组群体水平差异的计划是非常可取的。虽然从人口调查中可以获得巨大的利益，但它们也引起了一些严重的伦理问题。围绕知情同意问题的问题，特别是在科学知识有限的人群中，需要进行大量讨论。与遗传物质有关的知识产权问题很难回答。必须设计保障措施，以保护在政治上处于不利地位的个人和人口的权利。该奖项将承担一个研讨会的费用，该研讨会将把生物伦理学家、科学家和几个人类学兴趣群体的代表聚集在一起，讨论由人类基因组抽样产生的社会文化、科学、伦理和政治问题。讲习班将于1999年2月在密尔沃基的威斯康辛大学举行。

Over the last decade the developments of biotechnology have created an unprecedented ability to study genetic variation within our species. Such data can be applied to a number of significant areas including the reconstruction of the relationships between modern human populations, the mechanisms of human adaptation, the pathways of human migrations and the contribution of genes to a variety of human disorders. Biological anthropologists, population geneticists, historical linguists and members of other interested disciplines are likely to reap deeper understanding from analysis of DNA variation around the globe. Those who donate genetic samples may someday also benefit by contributing to the understanding of the biology underlying disease processes. The National Academy of Sciences has stated that a program to investigate population level variation in the human genome is highly desirable. While there are tremendous benefits to be gained from population investigations, they also raise a number of serious ethical concerns. Questions surrounding informed consent issues, especially in populations with limited knowledge of science require much discussion. Intellectual property issues related to the genetic material are very difficult to answer. Safeguards must be designed to protect the rights of both individuals and populations that are at a political disadvantage. This award will underwrite the costs of a workshop that will bring together bioethicists, scientists and representatives of several populations of anthropological interest in order to discuss socio-cultural, scientific, ethical and political issues generated by the sampling of the human genome. The workshop will be held at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in February, 1999.