This project, co-funded by the Science & Society program and the Directorate for Biological Sciences under the Biology and Society initiative, maps the previously unexamined field of cosmetic genomics. In so doing, this work explores the relations between the global aesthetics industry and the human life sciences more broadly. Specifically, the project surveys ongoing efforts to adapt techniques of selective gene silencing to the elimination of unwanted body hair. Topical creams delivering short interfering ribonucleic acids (siRNAs) to targeted cells are already in clinical trials; additional techniques of ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) are currently under investigation.
Such genetic tools portend a cataclysmic shift in the multibillion-dollar global market in hair removing goods and services, a fact well understood by the investors and company managers directing resources toward competitive research. At the same time, widespread adoption of these tools, designed to end visible hair growth, would reconfigure a classic marker of phenotypic difference. RNAi-mediated hair removal thus appears to be on the leading edge of scientific studies of racial and sexual variation. Grounded in a series of semi-structured interviews with industry leaders, regulatory authorities, and genome scientists, the project advances knowledge by: 1) offering a crucial new perspective on emerging relations between genomics, race, and gender; and 2) illuminating the significance of seemingly trivial matters like hair removal to the diffusion of biotechnology into daily life.
In supplying a richly textured account of research into new gene-based hair removal products, the project will complement several existing analytical literatures, including work in critical gender studies, social studies of race, science, and technology, the ethical, legal, and social implications of human genomics, and cultural studies of body modification. The results of this research will be disseminated broadly, including as a portion of a book-length history of sciences of hair removal in the United States. The project stands to provide general readers with useful tools for navigating the ever-changing terrain of "personal enhancement."
