Synopses & Reviews
At a time when more corporate employers are using genetic information as a cornerstone of their hiring practices, when workers find their chromosomes considered alongside their resumes, the ramifications of genetic testing demand further examination. Risky Business analyzes health screening in the workplace - three major types of testing are examined: genetic screening in which job applicants and employees are tested for inherited traits that may predispose them to the disease:genetic monitoring that aims to detect genetic damage among current employees that could indicate exposure to dangerous chemicals; and teratogenic risk in which laboratory cultures and animals are used to provide evidence of the effects of chemical exposure on humans.
Synopsis
Professor Draper shows that a major shift has been taking place in the prevailing conception of risk in the workplace - from one that locates risk in working conditions to one that locates risk in workers themselves.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-296) and index.
Table of Contents
Foreword Nicholas A. Ashford; Preface; Introduction; 1. Genetic testing and exclusionary practices in the workplace: risk, power, and controversy; 2. the rise of the genetic paradigm for occupational risk; 3. Competing conceptions of safety: high-risk workers or high-risk work?; 4. Sex, race, and genetic predisposition; 5. Power and control in industrial medicine; 6. Who bears the burden? The legal and economic context of occupational disease; 7. The social construction of workplace hazards: Conclusions and policy implications; Appendix; Notes; Glossary; References; Index.