University of Pennsylvania

Genes & Environment: Education to Involve Communities

Linda A. McCauley, Ph.D.
lmccaule@nursing.upenn.edu

Project Description

This project is designed to promote public understanding of the social, ethical and legal implications of research on genetic susceptibility to environmental toxicants. In recognition of the potential impact of genetic science developments in the 21st century, the investigators propose a broad partnership of schools, unions and workers, scientists, and minority communities to develop a forum to share views on socio-ethical issues related to gene-environmental research and to educate all parties on these views. The four communities represented in this project are environmental scientists, labor advocacy groups, environmental justice community organizers and youth educators. Each of these four partners brings a unique and valuable view to the development of outreach and educational programs around issues of gene-environmental susceptibility. The project will assess community readiness to focus on this issue, develop community-driven educational and outreach programs and develop mechanisms for ongoing dialogue as the science develops and community issues emerge. The broader view of this project is that these activities will provide an arena for these four communities to come together and share each group 's perspectives of the issues of importance in areas of gene-environmental susceptibility. The stages of the design of this project start with work within each community partner and build to activities in which the communities work together to share each others' perspective on the issues of interest.