Ethics guidelines planned for Japan

Japan is to set up the country's first ethical guidelines for the management and use of human genetic information in biomedical research. An ad hoc working group has been established to look into any ethical issues - such as consent and protection of genetic data - that might arise in research using using human DNA samples.

The working group, whose members included academics, lawyers and directors of national medical institutions, hope to have draft guidelines ready by January. The group aims to incorporate public opinion on these issues in the final guidelines to be compiled in March next year. The move reflects growing concern over the possible misuses of genetic information with the launch of projects that follow on from the Human Genome Project. The planned database of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) have, for example, raised much concern over the confidentiality of research records.

Methods to ensure the anonymity of DNA samples will be the main issue under discussion by the working group.