The purpose of this project is twofold: first, to conduct research that will ensure developing countries share the benefits of the genomics revolution (and thus prevent a “genomics divide” from developing similar to the “digital divide” in information technology) and second, to bring ethical, environmental, legal and social research to bear on the convergence of health and agricultural genomics.
The investigators are studying the ethical strategies in multi-national pharmaceutical and biotech companies and make recommendations for good practices; creating an ethical framework for genomics as applied to nutrition (nutrigenomics); conducting a case study of the “Enviro-Pig”; conducting courses on genomics and global health and developing a Commission on Genomics and Global Health.
This project is led by scientists at the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto and the University of Guelph.