Pharmacogenomics and the (ir)relevance of race

Race,Footnote 1 as opposed to ethnicity, is a predictor of questionable value for differences in susceptibility to, and pathogenesis of, disease susceptibility. As social constructs,

however, both race and ethnicity are powerful organizing forces employed both by those who use differences to stigmatize and those who view differences as a source of pride, community, and

shared history. Even as society acknowledges that humans are more alike than different, efforts to eliminate race in medical research are met with as much suspicion as those attempts to

employ race in research design. In some instances, the opposition to abandon racial categories has come from those groups who have historically suffered poor treatment or stigma based on

race. History has bred distrust among historically disfavored population groups of the possible agendas of those who would now abandon racial categories as a marker or measuring stick for

any purpose.

For purposes of this discussion, the term ‘race’ is defined as ‘a distinct ethnic group characterized by traits that are transmitted through their offspring’. An ethnic group is ‘a social

group or category of the population that, in a larger society, is set apart and bound together by common ties of race, language, nationality or culture’. Census, Race and Science. Nat Genet

2000; 24: 97–98.

For purposes of this discussion, the term ‘race’ is defined as ‘a distinct ethnic group characterized by traits that are transmitted through their offspring’. An ethnic group is ‘a social

group or category of the population that, in a larger society, is set apart and bound together by common ties of race, language, nationality or culture’. Census, Race and Science. Nat Genet

2000; 24: 97–98.

‡Ultimately, the aim of pharmacogenomics is to enable physicians to tailor drug therapy to the individual based on that individual’s genotype.

RS Schwartz . Racial profiling in medical research N Eng J Med 2001 344: 1392–1393

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