Biobanks in the context of techno-scientific biosociality: ethics of genetization or genetization of ethics?

Abstract

Biosociality is closely related to various forms of biomedicalization of society. The expansion of the role of genes in the treatment, diagnosis, and bio-identity of humans is a form of biomedicalization. The more we know about how genes affect human health, life trajectories and their behavior, the more attractive it is to use the results of biomedical discoveries in the social sphere. At the same time, science associated with society is organized and developed according to the principles of hybrid technoscience. In this regard, the development of biobanks should be considered as a technoscientific project in which several key problems of modern biomedicine are faced: hybridization of cultural and scientific discourses, genetization and the problem of protecting autonomy in a new biomedical environment built from scientific networks for processing genetic information. Genetic data is a significant source of information about a person, which, moreover, allows to draw certain conclusions for a long periods of time. Biobanks are one of the key elements of the concept of genetization of society, where genetic information becomes the main source of knowledge about the disease and human behavior. The article explores how biobanks are related to technoscientific biosociality and what impact they can have on ideas about benefits and autonomy. It is concluded that the phenomenon, which can be described as the genetization of ethics, is a recognition of the relationship of genes and social paths for the studied objects and a social recognition of the objectivity of the influence of the expression of individual genes on autonomy.