Between Dreams and Reality: The Dutch Approach to Genomics and Society

The Dutch approach to genomics and society is taken as an example to show that the dream of achieving a symmetrical dialogue between social and bioscientists is not easily realized. Dutch social science and genomics experts aspired to create a bottom-up network for society and genomics that would enable social scientists to bring their own expertise and views into the dialogue with bioscientists. However, in the final stage of founding the network, this aspiration was nipped in the bud. As a result, the genomics and society research agenda has become primarily governed by the desire to adequately implement genomics in society