Sandra Soo-Jin Lee ^1*

¹ Stanford University

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sandra.lee{at}stanford.edu.

	Abstract

I examine current practices of using "race" in pharmacogenomics research demands consideration of their ethical and social implications for social understandings of group difference and for efforts to eliminate health disparities. The discussion focuses on an "infrastructure of racialization" created by current trajectories of research on genetic differences among racially identified groups, the use of race as a proxy for risk in clinical practice, and increasing interest in new market niches by the pharmaceutical industry.

The confluence of these factors has resulted in the conflation of genes, disease, and race. I argue that public investment in pharmacogenomics requires careful consideration of current inequities in health status and social and ethical concerns over reifying race and issues of distributive justice.

Key Words: Ethics, Genetics, Race/Ethnicity, Social Science

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