Bioética, antropología biológica y poblaciones indígenas amazónicas

Abstract

There is an ongoing debate in Brazil concerning ethical issues related to bioanthropological research carried out among indigenous populations. From the 1960s onwards, native populations from Amazonia started to be more intensively investigated from a genetic standpoint, both by national as well as foreign research teams. At present, these populations are among the better-studied in the world. Until recently, population genetics was a field of research in Brazil that, despite highly productive from an academic standpoint, attracted little attention from non-academic circles. This situation has changed in recent years, what is related to ethical concerns related to the «commercialization» of DNA and cell lines obtained from indigenous groups. This paper analyses the current state of bioanthropological research of Amazonian Amerindians, situating it within the broader and ongoing debate of bioethics in biological anthropology.