Citation

Meurer A. New Bioeth. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/20502877.2021.1877450

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Despite numerous initiatives and significant resource investment, violence remains a pervasive threat to public health. The burgeoning field of epigenetics may offer an exciting new possibility for violence prevention efforts by illuminating the mechanisms of gene-environment interactions. In particular, it may improve our ability to design more effective primary interventions, facilitate improved intervention tailoring, and better position communities to be active agents in their well-being. However, without attention to the distinction between awareness, self-efficacy, and agency, it risks encouraging a false sense of individual accountability for violence, a perception that may perpetuate or increase existing inequities. Thus, embracing epigenetic insights in public health raises new opportunities but also new concerns. Ultimately, I argue public health should embrace epigenetics' potential, but only with an equal commitment to state responsibility and systemic justice.

Language: en

Keywords

violence prevention; epigenetics; agency; public health ethics; systemic justice