This session was linked with “Race under the microscope: Biological misunderstandings of race.” This session focused on “downstream” issues relating to biological explanations of socially-defined race – how race is communicated to the public as a biological category through commercialization, application, and public perception of the technologies themselves? How do biotech policies and research practices that misuse race translate at the ground level, through consumer products and medical applications, in ways that promote biological misunderstandings of race? The session looked at recent and upcoming developments in genetics and discuss strategies for addressing severe and under-recognized implications for racial inequality.
Areas of focus included: commercial genetic ancestry testing, genetic sovereignty and public health genomics, genetic screening in pediatrics and the military, and clinicians use of race-based medicine.