From TechNudge:
You might donate blood to help save someone's life. But would you donate your blood, your DNA, and your most intimate medical secrets on a promise that it may help save a life years from now?
Half a million people will be expected to do just that in the coming months, with another half a million people to follow, as two huge medical research projects get under way in the UK and US. The British project, called Biobank, is due to start within weeks, after five years of preparation. The American project, announced in 2004 by the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, is still at the planning stage.
This brings up all kinds of privacy issues, with the hope of some serious genetic research. My hope is that they set this up so that everyone's privacy is safeguarded. What if they discover a "heart attack gene?" This poor soul, or souls, would then have difficulty finding a full time job, spouse, and health insurance. Information solves some problems, but creates just as many more.
Medicine Tag
Health Tag
Some more info here.
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