© 1998 by Oxford University Press
Should the one speak for the many? Or the many for the one? This question haunts the hunt for medically relevant genes as researchers focus on small, culturally and/or geographically isolated populations.
Some bioethicists have raised the question of whether the community as a whole, not simply individuals, needs to consent to research that may affect it. And if so, is it the group or the individual that has the final say? One group of researchers has obtained just such a group consensus, which they think could be used Culturally Identifiable Populations Raise Thorny Issues for Researchers