Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!uunet!nih-csl!lhc!usenet
From: usenet@nlm.nih.gov (usenet news poster)
Newsgroups: bionet.followup,bionet.molbio.genome-program
Subject: Re: Legislation/Policy Issue surrounding Genetic Tests
Message-ID: <1990Sep26.235100.8757@nlm.nih.gov>
Date: 26 Sep 90 23:51:00 GMT
References: <7197@dog.ee.lbl.gov>
Reply-To: states@tech.NLM.NIH.GOV (David States)
Organization: National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Md.
Lines: 46

In article <7197@dog.ee.lbl.gov> antony@george.lbl.gov (Antony A. Courtney) writes:
>  As part of a project for a course entitled "Politics and Power", I am
>exploring the gray area of legislation surrounding the use of genetic tests.
>[...] The issue, as stated for my class is as follows:
>
>Should congress provide extra incentives to those parents whose genetic
>profiles indicate their children will be healthy?

The issue is how we wish to control the indiscriminant use of molecular
analysis, not how we want to promote it.  In many societies, including
our own, the sex of a fetus significantly affects the decisions parents
make following amniocentesis.  How long will it be before markers are
linked to "desireable" traits such as height or hair color?  In a
competitive society, there is a tremendous potential for abuse based on
parents perception of the possible advantages or disadvantages of
particular alleles.

Consider health insurance.  Is it acceptable for an insurer to charge
higher rates to parents who carry cystic fibrosis genes?  How about sickle
cell carriers?  Is it racially discriminatory to test couples for sickle
cell trait before marriage?  Is it racists not to?

Should an employer be allowed to genetically screen current or
prospective employees?  Should individuals with an increased risk of
diabetes, coronary heart disease, or Alzheimer's disease be hired? Or
fired, or promoted?  Should employers be allowed to subject individuals
with particularly inducible cytochrome p-450 alleles to increased
levels of toxins?

All it takes to get a PCRable sample of DNA for analysis is a spoonful
of saliva after you rinse your mouth out, a few hair follicles, or a
cup of urine.  Technically it is not hard, and many of the markers
noted above are already known.  Several are carried by a significant
proportion of our population.  The issue your class needs to discuss
is how we make the transition from a world where genetic disease was an
unknown and risks were shared into a world where these diseases are
predictable and the economic incentives will be strongly against
sharing the burden.

>Antony A. Courtney                                        antony@george.lbl.gov
>Advanced Development Group                           ucbvax!csam.lbl.gov!antony
>Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory                                     (415) 486-6692

David States                                          states@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
National Center for Biotechnology Information
National Library of Medicine