Will genetic testing reveal our privacy?

Just a hair, a little saliva or a drop of blood can predict the risk of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, hypertension, diabetes and other diseases. In recent years, genetic testing has developed rapidly, and it is possible to diagnose whether people may have familial hereditary diseases by analyzing DNA.

Genes contain a lot of human information, which is the greatest privacy that human beings are born with. Protecting genetic privacy is everyone's right. Once these genetic privacy is made public, it may have adverse consequences on a person's work, further education, medical care, insurance, life and even survival, leading to genetic discrimination. Therefore, the protection of gene privacy has become an important issue.

As early as 200 1 more than ten years ago, a magnificent lawsuit took place in the United States. The North Santa Fe Railway Company, which has 40,000 employees, collects blood samples from some employees, carries out genetic defect detection, and then uses the genetic detection results as the basis for hiring people. This incident caused an uproar, and people accused the company of genetic discrimination. Thirty-nine States in the United States stipulate that it is illegal to make insurance clauses based on the results of genetic testing. Some 15 states stipulate that it is not allowed to dismiss employees based on genetic test results.

Recently, an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Craig Venter, an academician of the American Academy of Sciences and a "science geek", dropped a "bomb" on the privacy and safety of the genetic testing industry: from DNA sequences, people can know the owner's color, pupil color and even voice of this DNA sequence through machine learning algorithms.

In the past, some genetic testing companies in the United States cooperated with pharmaceutical companies to conduct basic research on diseases based on consumers' genetic data. At that time, they made a statement that the genetic information of consumers was anonymous and would not reveal privacy. Venter's article is tantamount to hitting these statements in the face.

In 20 15, China issued the Service Guide for Collection, Collection, Trading, Export and Exit Approval of Human Genetic Resources, and in 20 14, China promulgated the Measures for the Management of Population Health Information (for Trial Implementation). These two legal documents protect our genetic information at the national level. However, there is no clear official guidance document or industry association guidance document to stipulate the privacy protection of genetic testing.

Therefore, we should pay more attention to protecting our genetic privacy in our daily life. Even if genetic testing is needed in some cases, we should choose a formal institution to clarify the safety of our genetic privacy in the contract and prevent criminals from using our genetic information to seek improper benefits.