I just attended theNational Society of Genetic Counselors Annual Meetingin Salt Lake City, UT where I met some of the brightest minds in genetics, heard about mind-bending new technologies, and was reminded of the many ways that genetic counseling and testing is improving health, transforming lives, and driving precision medicine forward.

With that bright promise freshly in mind, several recent stories have cast a stark reminder of the ways genetic testing can, andis,being used nefariously.I published an article on this topicjust a few short weeks ago and didnt foresee that it would need a part II so soon. Consider the following:

The Trump administration already announced that they would require DNA samples from asylum-seekers at the Mexican border for rapid DNA testing to confirm family relationships.In a move called transparently xenophobic in its intention, the Trump Administration now plans to collect DNA from individuals in federal immigration custody and add those samples to the national FBI crime database.

MIAMI : A judges gavel rests on top of a desk (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A Judge in the Floridas Ninth Judicial Circuit Court signed a warrant allowing a detective to successfully obtain a warrant to search GEDMatchs genetic database,even for users who opted out of appearing in police search results.This decision brings into question whether larger databases, like those of 23andMe and Ancestry, are subject to the same sort of warrants, despite their privacy policies.23andMe does not believe that this decision impacts them, but that remains to be seen.However, it is possible that any privacy policyis only as strong as a police departments ability to get a willing judge to sign a search warrant.

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 20: (Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images)

A recent genetic study on homosexualityraised eyebrows for many reasons, including that it appeared that homosexuality was being positioned as a condition or worse yet a disease to study and understand.An informativeDNA Exchange blogpost by certified genetic counselor Austin McKittrickeloquently outlined the issues, including that the study utilized data from the UK Biobank and 23andMe.Consumers consenting to 23andMe research studies may falsely believe that their data are being used only to further critical health care problems, like finding a treatment for Parkinsons disease, rather than for research that could potentially lead to discrimination or stigmatization of groups of people.Within days of this research being published an app called GenePlaza was developedthat, for about $5, could tell you how gay you are.Can you imagine this app being used at a middle school slumber party, with results posted to social media?But worse yet, the apps developer is based in Uganda,a country that announced plans that it would make homosexuality punishable by the death penalty.

Now, for just a moment, think about these three developments in unison.Our government is requiring DNA collection for immigrants in custody and those samples will enter our federal crime databases.Large databases, even for consumer entertainment, are subject to search warrant.Genetic data are being collected and used to make associations (accurate, or not) to a trait that may be punishable by death in some countries.

If we have been waiting for a sign thatwe need federal, or international, protections for genetic data and how it can be used, we now have that sign.

Continue reading here:
Waiting For The Sign that Protections Are Needed For Genetic Data? Here It Is. - Forbes

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