Australia reports on human genetics

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has published a report to guide the formation of laws and policies on human genetics. Entitled 'Essentially yours: the protection of human genetic information in Australia', the report is the end product of a two-year inquiry by the ALRC and the Australian Health Ethics Committee (AHEC).

Attorney General Daryl Williams and Senator Kay Patterson, minister for health and aging, launched the report in Canberra last week. The report lists 144 recommendations detailing how Australia should deal with the legal and ethical implications of genetic research and knowledge. It suggests the establishment of a standing advisory body on human genetics, to be called the Human Genetics Commission of Australia. Other key recommendations include prohibiting genetic discrimination via existing discrimination laws, creating a new offence of genetic testing without consent, banning employers from using genetic information and requiring the insurance industry to improve consumer protection policies and practices relating to genetic information.

Professor David Weisbrot, president of the ALRC and chair of the inquiry, said the report was the most comprehensive inquiry undertaken into issues raised by human genetics in any country so far. 'The enormous promise of genetic research for improving human health is well known', he said, adding 'however, it is also permeating and influencing many other aspects of Australian society, such as employment, insurance, law enforcement, family and kinship relations, immigration, sports and the delivery of clinical genetic services'. He commented that because genetic science was such a fast-developing area, it leaves major gaps in the legal protection of human genetic information. 'Now is the time to lay down the basic rules in this area', he said, continuing 'this will require some additions and amendments to existing law'.