Center for Global Health Ethics, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
New Bioeth. 2021 Jun;27(2):159-175. doi: 10.1080/20502877.2021.1877450. Epub 2021 Jan 29.
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.
尽管采取了众多举措并投入了大量资源，暴力仍然是对公众健康的普遍威胁。不断发展的表观遗传学领域可能为预防暴力的努力提供了一个令人兴奋的新可能性，因为它阐明了基因-环境相互作用的机制。特别是，它可能提高我们设计更有效的初级干预措施的能力，促进干预措施的更好调整，并使社区更好地成为其福祉的积极推动者。然而，如果不注意意识、自我效能和能动性之间的区别，它有可能会鼓励人们对暴力产生一种虚假的个人责任感，这种观念可能会延续或加剧现有的不平等现象。因此，在公共卫生领域接受表观遗传学的见解既带来了新的机会，也带来了新的问题。最终，我认为公共卫生应该接受表观遗传学的潜力，但也必须同样致力于国家责任和制度正义。
