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The $1,000 genome: Ethical and legal hurdles

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 4, page 82 (2003)Cite this article

Solving the technical problems fortunately gives us time to resolve the ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) that this endeavour presents before it is ready for 'prime time'. Take the question of ownership of one's DNA, still an unresolved issue in many jurisdictions. Individuals have the right to decide whether tissue that contains their DNA is removed from their body, but few personal legal rights have been established over the genotyping or testing of DNA that is legally acquired or sloughed off a person.

To gain public acceptance of sequencing an individual's whole genome, and the testing that this will make possible, legal protections for consent and privacy are essential. However, at present, only 15 US states explicitly protect the rights of consent to testing, and Canada, Australia and most European countries do not explicitly protect an individual's rights to refuse testing and to have privacy in their test results3.

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References

  1. 1. Pollock, A. Genome pioneer will start center of his own. New York Times A18, 15 August 2002

  2. 2. Nature Science Update. 24-hour Genome Dawns [online] <http://www.nature.com/nsu/020923/020923-2.html> (24 September 2002)

  3. 3. Roche, P. A. & Annas, G. J. Protecting genetic privacy. Nature Rev. Genet. 2, 392–396 (2001)

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  4. 4. Merz, J. F. Patents limit medical potential of sequencing. Nature 419, 878 (2002)

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  1. University of Texas School of Law,

    John Robertson

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  1. John Robertson
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Robertson , J. The $1,000 genome: Ethical and legal hurdles. Nat Rev Genet 4, 82 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1025

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