Legal and ethical considerations of the Human Genome Project

This article seeks to highlight some of the more important ethical and legal issues raised by the Human Genome Project. It is recognized that hithertofore ethical control over the pace and scope of scientific progress has been only partly successful, due largely to the resistance of the professionals involved to outside interference and to the ineffectiveness of self-monitoring. The Human Genome Project has the potential to alter the lives of individuals and the structure of human society as a whole. It is essential therefore that individuals be empowered through the application and development of existing heads of liability in constitutional and private law to effect at least some of the necessary control. The transnational aspects of the project and the ethical and legal issues which it raises are also stressed.

Privacy and the Human Genome Project

The Human Genome Project has raised many issues regarding the contributions of genetics to a variety of diseases and societal conditions. With genetic testing now easily conducted with lowered costs in nonmedical domains, a variety of privacy issues must be considered. Such testing will result in the loss of significant privacy rights for the individual. Society must now consider such issues as the ownership of genetic data, confidentiality rights to such information, limits placed on genetic screening, and legislation to control genetic testing and its applications. There is often a conflict between individual rights to privacy and the need for societal protection.