It is also believed that the environment must play a larger role in the expression of genes than originally thought since one third or more of DNA sequences are repeated. In other words, a large percentage of human DNA sequences are identical to each other and the way the environment plays on them determines how they will be expressed. Alan I. Leshner, deputy director of the National Institute of Mental Health, feels that genes influence behavior as much as behavior influences genes. From the beginning, questions concerning the ethics of all aspects of genetic alteration and determinism have been asked and most of which still go unanswered. The group raised many issues and came to some conclusions as to how they should be dealt with ethically.
Confidentiality becomes an increasingly detrimental aspect when genetics is involved.
Many sub-issues come into play when dealing with the topic of privacy of genetic information. These are important points because a person s personal and economic well being can be compromised if genetic information is leaked. Confidentiality is more important in genetic medicine than in other fields because the information is much more personal and much less understood. It is not yet decided how situations such as these will be dealt with. A practice like his could devalue human lives that were not genetically perfect and in turn create more discrimination in our society.