Genes r us.

• Author: Gordon, Dianna
• Position: Ethical, social and moral implications of genetic research

As scientists unravel the mysteries of life and reveal genetic links to diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's, lawmakers wrestle with the ethical, social and moral implications that arise from applications of that research.

Brave new world? Or basis for a new kind of discrimination?

Genetics is an explosive field, and scientists are making amazing discoveries almost daily as they plumb the mysteries of life itself.

Genetic technology has opened a new era of medicine, allowing doctors to achieve near miraculous cures. But the same insight into the genes that yields those cures could result in discrimination as more accurate testing lets employers and insurers identify potential disease victims who levy a cost on both.

Right now a strand of hair or a drop of blood contains everything a researcher needs to determine whether a seemingly healthy person is at risk for any number of genetic diseases. It's information many employers and insurers want to know. It's information that can disrupt lives.

As of this spring, a private company, Human Genome Sciences, mapped more than 45,000 human genes--microscopic combinations of chemicals that determine not only our hair color, eye color, how tall we will become and other physical attributes, but also how our bodies use food, the possibilities of developing cancer or whether we will die of a debilitating disease. In fact, other scientists have discovered one gene that, when mutated, may trigger as many as half of the major types of cancer.

"The future of medicine is genetic medicine," says Dr. Mary Ann Cutter, a specialist in medical ethics from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Cutter was one of the people on a Colorado task force that proposed restrictions on the dissemination and use of genetic test results. The recommendations resulted in the Colorado General Assembly's banning the use of genetic information by insurers.

Laws for a New World

Thirteen states--Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wisconsin--have passed genetic testing laws. Most of the laws--such as those in New Jersey, North Carolina and Louisiana--are narrowly drawn and attempt to prevent a repeat of the discrimination of the 1970s when people were denied insurance or jobs because they tested positive as carriers of sickle cell anemia, a genetic disease found primarily in African Americans. Carriers do not necessarily manifest symptoms of the disease; they "carry" a bad gene and can pass it on to their children. Testing for...