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Genetic Privacy Threatened
`Human bar codes' envisioned

By John Douglas
National Reporter

  OTTAWA -- Imagine a society where within minutes of being born,
a child's genetic profile is placed in a central computer and the
information used to determine who they marry, where they work,
and if they qualify for insurance, public health care and other
social services.

  Bruce Phillips, Canada's privacy commissioner, believes
information gleaned from genetic testing could soon be bandied
about in the same way credit information is today.

  "No surveillance technology is more threatening to privacy than
that designed to unlock the information contained in human
genes," said Phillips, who released a report on the issue
yesterday.

  Trading in genetic information could reduce people to "human
bar codes" similar to those found on supermarket shelves, he
said, making it possible for employers to hand-pick only the best
workers, insurers to reject high-risk clients and governments to
select only the most favorable immigrants or fund the brightest
university students.

  "It's unaccountably intrusive," Phillips said.  "It runs the
risk of creating a genetic underclass. . . that is unemployable
and uninsurable."

  He said the potential for abuse is so great the federal
government should move quickly to limit the collection, storage
and use of genetic information.

  Genetics is a science that has been growing by leaps and bounds
in recent years, thanks mainly to a 15-year, $3-billion
international effort called the Human Genome Project.  Its goal
is to map out and sequence the human genome -- the collection of
one's genes.

  Genetic fingerprinting analyses a person's DNA
(deoxyribonucleic acid) which carries genetic information that
determines physical and, some believe, mental and psychological
characteristics.

  Scientists believe that, in the future, genetic screening will
tell us who will be smart, who will work hard, who will be
anti-social, who will be athletic and who is likely to become
addicted to alcohol and drugs.

  "I am very concerned," said John Hamerton, head of human
genetics at the University of Manitoba.  "There certainly is a
need to talk about this, to set ground rules and discuss all the
consequences of leaving this area unregulated."

  Currently, genetic testing is limited in Canada to forensic DNA
analysis in criminal investigations and limited screening during
prenatal exams.  A fetus may be screened for genetic disorders
through amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling.

  However, in the United States and Great Britain, insurance
companies are exploring the use of genetic screening to determine
eligibility.

Report calling
for federal study

  Some recommendations of the Genetic Testing and Privacy report:

- Amending the Constitution to guarantee the right to individual
privacy as a means of curbing genetic testing.

- A call for a federal study on the extent of genetic testing by
both government and the private sector.

- Prohibit employers from collecting genetic information about
employees without consent.

- Prohibit mandatory genetic testing by the state and private
sectors except in limited criminal investigations.

- Prohibit mandatory genetic testing to determine eligibility for
benefits and services.

- Prohibit employers from making genetic testing a condition of
employment.

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(This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the
Patriot Archives FTP site by S.P.I.R.A.L., the Society for the
Protection of Individual Rights and Liberties. E-mail alex@spiral.org)


