As covered by Nature magazine a couple weeks ago, the full genome of James D Watson, one of the fathers of DNA, has been sequenced. The article also describes how Watson's DNA sequence revealed his predisposition to cancer. This revelation brings on several important questions. Will people come forward to see what diseases they are prone to have? More importantly how can future employers, health providers or insurance companies use this information to genetically discriminate against you?
As covered by Slashdot a month ago there is a bill currently waiting the approval of one senator to getting passed that addresses genetic discrimination. This bill will make it illegal US citizens to be denied jobs or insurance because of an implication of a disease provided by their genetic code.
I just hope this bill passes soon as it is essential to the use of novel Bioinformatic practices in the medical field.
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