Her lawsuit may be the first to decide whether someone genetically prone to a disease is covered by federal anti-discrimination laws. The three issues are interrelated. No one except you should know your genetic makeup unless you authorize someone else to have it, experts say. Under current U.S. law, third parties could obtain a person's medical information for various purposes. Employers, for example, have the legal right to require applicants to undergo full physical examinations before being hired.
Drug tests are also mandatory in many companies.
In the future, with advanced genetic knowledge, the amount of information revealed about a person's physical makeup through a routine examination would be a mountain compared to the molehill of today, experts say. What many want to see are laws mandating that employees be told that genetic information will be gathered and what will be done with the individual genetic charts. DNA from saliva left on a cup of coffee could be used to determine your genetic profile People should also have the weight of the law behind them in fighting discrimination stemming from their genetic profiles, experts say. What they want to see are anti-genome discrimination statutes similar to U.S. laws barring discrimination based on a person's age, race, gender or national origin. Larry Gostin, a professor of law and public health at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., said the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act provides the primary legislative shield against health-related discrimination.