Pharmacogenetics Op-Ed

Bring up “genetic testing” at any dinner party, and talk will most likely turn to the Home Office’s attempt to create a national DNA databank. But genetic testing may well result in conflicts of a more personal nature – privacy rights within families.
Unlike individualized medical tests, genetic tests measure the susceptibility of entire families to certain illnesses, throwing privacy rights into a boil.

“If two or more people have a claim [to privacy], most of our laws are inadequate,” says Graeme Laurie, Professor of Medical Jurisprudence at the University of Edinburgh.

This is precisely why lawmakers must anticipate medical breakthroughs, to provide a framework by which to decide these disputes. Professor Laurie notes. “The problem with our privacy laws ... is that it is very much geared to the protection of individual rights.” As genetic information becomes more freely available to employers and governments, privacy rights must be legally clarified.