Genes mapped to chromosome 16 include those causing Crohn s disease, Batten s disease, Fanconi s anemia, Polycyctic Kidney disease, and several forms of breast and prostate cancer. One goal of the ELSI program is to address the consequences of the vastly growing genetic information and protocols on individuals and society. Another necessary goal is to recognize and develop appropriate policy options to address and solve the future ELSI issues that are sure to arise. The list of ELSI issues is relatively long and in one way or another, have some legal ramifications tied to them. The lawyers, judges, and juries will have to be DNA experts to understand some of the evidence presented in courtrooms in the post-genome era.
Discrimination includes that of age, sex, race and now genetic discrimination.
Another ELSI issue is dealing with the privacy implications of personal genetic information, used in places such as work, school or used to influence an adoption proceeding. Imagine being in a disease condition, you may not want to know some of the risks or implications of this disease, but others such as your insurance company, your employer, or the Government may want this information for there own use. Congress has already begun legislation and debate to come up with answers to these issues. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, offers a bit of protection due to the loss of health insurance because of the use of genetic information. Other ELSI issues deal with genetic literacy and the understanding of genetic information, particularly the information related to extremely complex conditions that involve multiple genes or some genetic-environmental interactions.