Genetic profiling has become a major issue and concern in all industries.

NOW FOR THE SCARY PART
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FACTS:

 

Testing of genetic material is performed on: urine, blood, saliva, hair, stool, body tissues and bone.

 

 

Cells in these samples are isolated and the DNA within them is extracted and examined for possible mutations or alterations.  Looking at small portions of the DNA is done to pinpoint the exact location of genetic errors. 

 

Genetic testing can provide definitive diagnosis as well as help predict the odds of developing a particular disease before symptoms even appear.

 

It can tell if a person is carrying a specific gene that could be passed on to his or her children.

 

Finding updated facts on genetic profiling is very limited, however here is some information from the past.

YEAR 2002

Advances in information technology, while beneficial to improving daily life, have also proven to be a boon for government and private entities. And in each case of informational abuse, the cause of defending privacy seems to be increasingly a losing proposition.

Among the abuses documented recently by the ACLU:

  • A Maryland banker improperly accessed the medical records of bank customers to see who had been diagnosed with cancer. Armed with this information, the bank immediately foreclosed on their loans.
  • A recent University of Illinois study found that 35 percent of all Fortune 500 companies consult medical records before they hire or promote an employee.
  • A 1997 survey by the American Management Association found that as many as 10 percent of 6,000 companies used genetic testing for employment purposes.
  • The Council for Responsible Genetics, an advocacy group in Massachusetts, has documented hundreds of cases in which healthy people have been denied insurance or a job based on genetic "predictions."

 

 

Two-hundred and six cases of genetic discrimination against asymptomatic individuals were documented in a 1996 study conducted by Harvard and Stanford universities. The individuals involved suffered loss of employment, loss of insurance coverage, or ineligibility for insurance based on the genetic potential for disease--not on any current maladies or symptoms.

 

In another survey, conducted jointly by several federal agencies, 550 people were found to have been denied jobs or health insurance due to genetic predisposition to certain illnesses. Nearly a third (31 percent) of members of families with inherited diseases were found to have been denied insurance coverage even though they displayed no symptoms, in a survey cited in congressional testimony by the director of the Human Genome Project, Dr. Francis Collins. It is safe to assume that there are numerous other cases, unrecorded, of people unaware of the reasons they were not hired, were fired, and so on.

 



OTHER HELPFUL LINKS ARE BELOW !

 

Former President Clinton signed an Executive Order prohibiting federal agencies from considering a person's genetic information in hiring or promotion decisions.

 

 

Former Vice President Gore also expressed concern

 

 

President Bush has also stated his concern about the abuses that can occur.
In his radio address to the nation on June 23, 2001 .

 


Enacted State Genetic Discrimination Legislation
May, 2001

ACLU
GENETIC DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE FACT SHEET


GENETIC TESTING: Balancing Benefits and Abuses.


The Private Eyes Project
Genetic Testing
Case Study


Genetic Information and the Workplace



EEOC vs. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad



The National Workrights Institute: Issue: Genetic Discrimination



FACT: There are about 900 genetic tests being offered by diagnostic laboratories

Obviously, genetic profiling is a real and growing problem.

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