TY - JOUR
T1 - The differing perspectives of workers and occupational medicine physicians on the ethical, legal and social issues of genetic testing in the workplace
AU - Brandt-Rauf, Sherry I.
AU - Brandt-Rauf, Elka
AU - Gershon, Robyn
AU - Brandt-Rauf, Paul W.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by grants from the National Human Genome Research Institute (R03-HG03682) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (R01-OH04192). The authors wish to thank the members of our Expert Review Panel for help in developing the focus group scripts; Sheldon Samuels of the Ramazzini Institute for Occupational and Environmental Health Research and Mike Flynn of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the William P. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center for organizing the worker focus groups; ACOEM for organizing the physician focus groups and providing access to its membership information; Licole Paroli for her research assistance in the area of trust in the workplace; and the workers and physicians who gave so generously of their time and insights by participating in the focus groups.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2011, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.
PY - 2011/5/1
Y1 - 2011/5/1
N2 - Genetic testing in the workplace holds the promise of improving worker health but also raises ethical, legal, and social issues. In considering such testing, it is critical to understand the perspectives of workers, who are most directly affected by it, and occupational health professionals, who are often directly involved in its implementation. Therefore, a series of focus groups of unionized workers (n=25) and occupational medicine physicians (n=23) was conducted. The results demonstrated strikingly different perspectives of workers and physicians in several key areas, including the goals and appropriateness of genetic testing, and methods to minimize its risks. In general, workers were guided by a profound mistrust of the employer, physician, and government, while physicians were guided primarily by scientific and medical concerns, and, in many cases, by the business concerns distrusted by the workers.
AB - Genetic testing in the workplace holds the promise of improving worker health but also raises ethical, legal, and social issues. In considering such testing, it is critical to understand the perspectives of workers, who are most directly affected by it, and occupational health professionals, who are often directly involved in its implementation. Therefore, a series of focus groups of unionized workers (n=25) and occupational medicine physicians (n=23) was conducted. The results demonstrated strikingly different perspectives of workers and physicians in several key areas, including the goals and appropriateness of genetic testing, and methods to minimize its risks. In general, workers were guided by a profound mistrust of the employer, physician, and government, while physicians were guided primarily by scientific and medical concerns, and, in many cases, by the business concerns distrusted by the workers.
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U2 - 10.2190/NS.21.1.j
DO - 10.2190/NS.21.1.j
M3 - Article
C2 - 21411427
AN - SCOPUS:79959574260
VL - 21
SP - 89
EP - 102
JO - New Solutions
JF - New Solutions
SN - 1048-2911
IS - 1
ER -