Over at Gene Expression, blogger p-ter wonders whether growing concerns about avoiding any kind of research that could be considered prejudicial will ultimately hinder scientists' understanding of how groups from various ethnic and geographic backgrounds really do differ on the genomic level. P-ter cites a scientist on a review panel who panned a grant application because it was looking at whether response to HIV treatment was different among groups that were predominantly black or white. "Biomedical researchers are caught between a rock and a hard place here--none of them enjoy being referred to as scientific racists by their colleagues, I'm sure, but they're also interested in real phenomena," according to the post.
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