Australia Launches Inquiry on Human Gene Privacy

Reuters Online Service
Mittwoch, 7. Februar 2001 04:07:00 


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CANBERRA (Reuters) - The Australian government on Wednesday
launched a national inquiry into the legal and ethical issues
involved in mapping the building stones of the human body, with
a special focus on privacy regarding genetic information.
Attorney General Daryl Williams and Health Minister Michael
Wooldridge said the Australian Law Reform Commission and the
Australian Health Ethics Committee would oversee the review,
due to be concluded by the end of June, 2002.
"Genetic information has many important scientific and
medical applications which are of benefit to the community as a
whole," Williams and Wooldridge said in a joint statement.
"However, the government shares the community's concerns
that genetic information should be treated sensitively to
prevent the potential for abuse or discrimination on the basis
of actual or imputed genetic characteristics."
The inquiry will determine whether new laws are required to
protect the privacy of human genetic samples and information,
to protect them from inappropriate discriminatory use, and to
reflect ethical considerations.
Scientists have managed to sequence all the genes in the
human body, mapping the three billion letters that make up the
human genetic code.
The advance is expected to lead to new ways of treating
disease by manipulating genes, but concerns have also been
expressed about the potential for ethical abuse, and over the
cloning of people.

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