Canada, by landmass the largest country in North America, is the smallest in population, at just over 32 million inhabitants. Despite this relatively small population, Canada has made a number of distinctive contributions to discussions of science, technology, and ethics. Among these is, notably, the Genomics, Ethics, Economics, Environment, Law, and Society (GE³LS, pronounced gels) program, part of Genome Canada, that has supported more than seventy investigators and as many graduate students to investigate issues related to genomics research. As the name indicates, the goal is to promote social context research and education related to new developments in genetics.

General Background

While many would argue that ethical, economic, and social aspects have always been embedded in the management of science in Canada, these have not always been present in a formal sense. In earlier years companies, governments, and scientific researchers often consulted, in an ad hoc...