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Geneticophobia and the Implications of Screening for the XYY Genotype in Newborn Infants

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Genetics and the Law

Abstract

The programs involving screening of newborn populations for abnormal chromosome genotype, in particular the study at the Boston Hospital for Women, have been subject to well publicized criticism because of the alleged consequences for infants (and their families) with XYY genotype detected in such studies (1–5). These criticisms have focused on some specific aspects of the Boston study, but they have much broader significance. Among other issues, they directly raise the question of the relationship of the XYY genotype to behavior and the broader social implications of such a purported relationship.

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References

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Aubrey Milunsky MB. B. Ch., M. R. C. P., D. C. H. (Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School; Director, Genetics Laboratory, Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center at the Walter E. Fernald State School; Medical Geneticist, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Center for Human Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts)George J. Annas J. D., M. P. H (Director, Center for Law and Health Sciences, Boston University School of Law; Assistant Professor, Department of Socio-Medical Sciences and Community Medicine (Law and Medicine), Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts; Lecturer in Legal Medicine, Boston College Law School, Newton, Massachusetts)

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© 1976 Plenum Press, New York

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Hook, E.B. (1976). Geneticophobia and the Implications of Screening for the XYY Genotype in Newborn Infants. In: Milunsky, A., Annas, G.J. (eds) Genetics and the Law. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2229-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2229-0_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-2231-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-2229-0

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