Epigenetic Poverty, Coloniality and Intervention Bioethics in Latin America

Abstract

Numerous studies have documented a relationship between changes in gene expression and biosocial factors. For example, Nr3c1, Ppara, and IGF2 expression alter as a result of poverty-induced biosocial pressures. Such epigenetic changes have already been identified in children born into poor households and children born to malnourished mothers. This study presents an ethical discussion of poverty in Latin America caused by social exclusion and economic exploitation of natural resources by developed countries. Intervention bioethics (IB), a critical purpose for new epistemological territorialism, was developed in Latin America and is based mainly on coloniality studies. This persistent situation exemplifies the relationship of oppression and dependence of peripheral countries on central countries. The inherent social inequality results in perpetual poverty, which in turn leaves epigenetic marks in the genome. We discuss how lower socioeconomic status can cause changes in the DNAmethylation pattern. Intervention bioethics advocates that the State must be more effective in making decisions in favor of excluded populations, thus establishing minimum income policies. In Latin America, the majority of the population is poor.