The troubling news, experts say, is that unregulated access to genetic information could destroy a person's privacy. In the absence of legal protections, they say, you and your doctor will not be the only ones with access to your genetic chart. You lose your job because your boss fears you will become seriously ill when you turn 50. Drug companies invade your privacy with unsolicited new therapies for diseases they know you could contract based on your genetic profile. Such situations worry experts such as John Banja, a medical ethicist at Emory University in Atlanta.
Medical discrimination exists now.
Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, said lack of legislation could lead to snooping by unauthorized parties. Everybody gushes on about the revelation that 99 percent of the genome in humans is held in common. Potential for error Experts caution that a complete genome map does not mean researchers know all there is to know about what makes you tick genetically. It will take many years for researchers to figure out what the map means, to determine which gene causes which disease, which ones contribute to which physical and emotional traits, and so on. As science unravels the genetic mysteries at the core of all humans, the non-scientific segments of society will begin to find ways to apply the information in everyday life.