@article{0aa0aba8a4974dd895f9b46e4b7338d2,
title = "Ethical priority of the most actionable system of biomolecules: the metabolome",
abstract = "The metabolome is a system of small biomolecules (metabolites) and a direct result of human bioculture. Consequently, metabolomics is well poised to impact anthropological and biomedical research for the foreseeable future. Overall, we provide a perspective on the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of metabolomics, which we argue are often more alarming than those of genomics. Given the current mechanisms to fund research, ELSI beyond human DNA is stifled and in need of considerable attention.",
author = "Lewis, {Cecil M.} and McCall, {Laura Isobel} and Sharp, {Richard R.} and Spicer, {Paul G.}",
note = "Funding Information: ) Human Genome Project, and continues to be overseen as an extramural research program in the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). Over the past three decades, this funding mechanism has become the primary source of U.S. extramural funding for biomedical ethics. Not surprisingly, the majority of ELSI research proposals focus on genome research and clinical applications of genetic testing. Unfortunately, this emphasis is out of step with the multi‐omics revolution in the life sciences that has followed in the wake of the human genome project. Armed with new insights and tools from genomics, a wide array of biological fields are studying synergistic connections among biological pathways and phenomena—and importantly, focusing their efforts on the system of biomolecules above the genome that are much more amenable to intervention, such as the metabolome. Support for ELSI research grew directly out of the National Institutes of Health (NIH, ). But a consequence of this focus is a preoccupation with what is arguably the least clinically actionable biomolecule, human DNA. It seems clear that we need a broader ELSI program that is more responsive to, and inclusive of, how biology works and how human biology is studied today. Given that omics sciences are expanding rapidly, the need for broad institutional recognition, identity, and investment in these sciences is critical. NHGRI's consistent focus on human genetics has allowed ELSI researchers to develop new strategies to understand genetics, evaluate the benefits of genetic testing, and propose health policy that maximizes promise while minimizing harms (Burke et al., The solution to improving support and awareness of ELSI and biomolecules is not simply broadening the scope of NHGRI (although that would help), but also requires a commitment from other agencies, organizations and institutions, including those within anthropology. Professional societies, particularly those close to biological anthropology, can be doing their part in creating professional awareness—that molecular anthropology is not just about human DNA—and that the implications of molecules are broader than ancestry, population history, and evolution. Many of these issues would benefit from attention from other NIH institutes, which often have minimal explicit investment in anything that resembling ELSI, as well as outside NIH altogether, falling more within the purview of other agencies (e.g., NSF) and foundations. The rise of these new approaches requires, in our opinion, a much more sustained and coordinated approach to engage the kind of issues we have anticipated here. Funding Information: This publication was primarily supported by the NIH (RM1 HG009042; R01 GM089886). We thank helpful comments from Morris Foster (Old Dominion University), Aaron Goldenberg (Case Western Reserve University), the Center on the Ethics of Indigenous Genomic Research, Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology and Microbiome Research. Funding Information: This publication was primarily supported by the NIH (RM1 HG009042; R01 GM089886). We thank helpful comments from Morris Foster (Old Dominion University), Aaron Goldenberg (Case Western Reserve University), the Center on the Ethics of Indigenous Genomic Research, Laboratories of Molecular Anthropology and Microbiome Research. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 The Authors. American Journal of Physical Anthropology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.",
year = "2020",
month = feb,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1002/ajpa.23943",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "171",
pages = "177--181",
journal = "American Journal of Physical Anthropology",
issn = "0002-9483",
publisher = "Wiley-Liss Inc.",
number = "2",
}