Health Law and Policy Commons^™

The Genetic Privacy Act: A Proposal For National Legislation, Patricia Roche, Leonard H. Glantz, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Privacy is a major issue in medical law, and genetics is a major force in contemporary medical science. Nonetheless, the combination of these two fields has only recently been seen as central to both individual rights and medical progress. Disclosures in June of 1996 that White House officials had wrongly acquired and read FBI files of raw background checks of prominent Republicans reminded Americans that there is no such thing as a completely secure and secret file of personal information. Had these files contained DNA profiles or samples, they would have supplied additional information about the unsuspecting individuals-information that could …