ABSTRACT
Progress in understanding and treating human disease has advanced to remarkable levels in recent decades. Understanding the relationship between lifestyles and health, the biology of the human body, development of designer drugs, alternative intervention strategies, and the genetic codes related to predispositions of various diseases have progressed; and they continue to progress at breakneck speed. As these advances are being made, it would appear that the level of uncertainty should decline, that individuals, groups, and communities should have more specific information on which to base health decisions, making not only easier decisions, but also more precise decisions about health and health protective behaviors. Ironically, this is seldom the case. Advances in medicine and other health sciences as well as in risk-assessment techniques have not necessarily resulted in decreasing the uncertainties we face as we resolve issues and questions about health. Einsiedel and Thorne (1999), for example, described the case of BRCA1, a gene identified as related to an increased chance of breast cancer. Rather than increasing certainty, the discovery of this gene has actually decreased certainty by increasing the number of questions needing answers. For example, questions now need to be answered specifying conditions under which the genetic code increases the likelihood of a particular type of cancer for a specific individual. At the same time there is increased uncertainty about how to identify susceptible individuals.
