Genetics and environment: Legal and ethical derivations of ecogenetics

Abstract

This paper analyzes the ethical, social and legal derivations of a specific branch of genetics – ecogenetics. For this, a bibliographic methodology was adopted, based on interdisciplinary doctrinal sources, to review the literature on the subject, which is still scarce. The study object of ecogenetics is the relationship between the environment and the individual genetic characteristics that alter the general health conditions. The current bioscience developments moved the focus from treatment and cure to disease prevention as well as raised ethical questions about the influence of knowledge of genetic traits and the environmental factors that act on them. Moves the human act to the perspective of responsibility, both for the individual, as the community in relation to present and future generations. The importance of the ecogenetics research spreads beyond the individual and family interests, converting into important preconditions for governmental adoption of preventive measures.

Keywords

• Bioethics
• Ecogenetics
• Environment
• Ethics
• Health