Each Human Being Is a Biochemically Unique Individual

Since the early 20th Century studies of inborn errors of metabolism by Sir Archibald Garrod, and his 1902 book Incidence of Alkaptonuria: A Study in Chemical Individuality, it has become clear that each person has distinct abilities and limitations that make him or her unique. This lecture examined the legal, ethical, and moral implications that arise in the medical treatment of patients—from fertilization until final breath—as a result of humans’ biochemical distinctiveness.