Overview

Testing for genetic diseases or traits is a rapidly developing practice, the most widely used form of testing currently in use being newborn screening. Based on a five-year research project and winner of the Prix ’Le Monde’ for academic research in France, The Birth of a Genetics Policy analyses the three dimensions - scientific, political and moral - of the social issues raised by a policy of screening for the genetic disease of cystic fibrosis amongst babies. Drawing on extensive interview material and observational research, it explores the conditions under which a screening policy is decided upon and implemented, the types of political logic underlying it, and the effects it has on norms and values. Revealing the ties that exist between forms of biomedical knowledge and political techniques, whilst showing how the notion of biomedical abnormality is being extended, this book sheds light on judgements surrounding the idea of the ’quality (of) life’. A rigorous examination of the discourses and practices of medical genetics in the early twenty-first century, The Birth of a Genetics Policy will appeal to sociologists and anthropologists with interests in medicine and the body, evidence-based care and questions of biopolitics and governmentality.

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9781138279506

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Reviews

Classified as 'Research Essential' by Baker & Taylor YBP Library Services A Yankee Book Peddler UK Core Title for 2013 'Combining her knowledge of genetics as both a biologist and an anthropologist, JoA lle Vailly vividly analyses the scientific and moral issues raised by the national screening of cystic fibrosis in France and provides a masterful reflection on a contemporary biopolitics that redraws the boundary between the normal and the pathological.' Didier Fassin, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA 'This timely volume is a superb account of the political struggles, scientific uncertainties, and human anxieties that surround the establishment of a newborn genetic screening program for cystic fibrosis in France. Grounded in Foucault's concept the field of experience , Vailly orchestrates a cacophony of voices - medical professionals, families, advocacy groups, and policy makers - that create a new moral space associated with quality life .' Margaret Lock, McGill University, Montreal, Canada 'This is not yet another book on genetics, either warning against the insidious geneticisation of society or celebrating the scientific prowess of genetics. It rather offers an exceptionally detailed account on what it entails to make genetics the locus of ordinary health policies, and a thoughtful reflection on what it is to have genes as political objects inhabiting our lives.' Vololona Rabeharisoa, Mines-ParisTech, France

Classified as 'Research Essential' by Baker & Taylor YBP Library Services A Yankee Book Peddler UK Core Title for 2013 ’Combining her knowledge of genetics as both a biologist and an anthropologist, Joëlle Vailly vividly analyses the scientific and moral issues raised by the national screening of cystic fibrosis in France and provides a masterful reflection on a contemporary biopolitics that redraws the boundary between the normal and the pathological.’ Didier Fassin, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA ’This timely volume is a superb account of the political struggles, scientific uncertainties, and human anxieties that surround the establishment of a newborn genetic screening program for cystic fibrosis in France. Grounded in Foucault’s concept the field of experience, Vailly orchestrates a cacophony of voices - medical professionals, families, advocacy groups, and policy makers - that create a new moral space associated with quality life.’ Margaret Lock, McGill University, Montréal, Canada ’This is not yet another book on genetics, either warning against the insidious geneticisation of society or celebrating the scientific prowess of genetics. It rather offers an exceptionally detailed account on what it entails to make genetics the locus of ordinary health policies, and a thoughtful reflection on what it is to have genes as political objects inhabiting our lives.’ Vololona Rabeharisoa, Mines-ParisTech, France

Author Information

Joëlle Vailly is Senior Researcher at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and at the research center ’Interdisciplinary Research Institute on Social Issues’ (Iris), France.

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