DRAFT LTE: Opinion: Occupy Science? | The Scientist
Work in progress:
The article suggests an amalgamation between a citizen social network and a scientific knowledge network as the future for biobanking: "balancing hope with realism". This balance however, may be more difficult to achieve than the authors let on. Often data that may become part of the scientific network may not be ready for prime time viewing by the uninitiated. Open and/or real time access to science as it becomes available would necessitate the same real time access to genetic counselors to help users wade through what might be a relatively unintelligible mash of statistical probabilities and not-yet discounted theories, that might provide false hope, or worse, false fears.
Further direct interaction with donors may not legally eliminate the need for informed consent and may actually hamper research, with perhaps the possibility that donors demand the right to direct research, change their details and medical history often, or pull their data out of projects midstream.
On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 11:34 PM, <mark> wrote: