Research On Legal Regulation Of Genetic Discrimination

With the development of biotechnology,genetic discrimination becomes asocial issue. The rapid development of gene technology makes it more convenientto get personal genetic information, when personal intelligence, personality,emotions and so on are labeled “good gene”or “bad gene”, meanwhile education,employment, marriage and so on all need genetic information as the selection andevaluation criteria, the concerns that genetic discrimination will infringe on citizen’srights and hinder the healthy development of society will no longer be alarmist, so thelegal regulation of genetic discrimination should become imperative.Genetic discrimination refers to behaviors that reduce individuals and theirfamilies’ right, deny their advantages and deprive their opportunities, because thesepeople may suffer some diseases in the future through genetic information which isdisclosed in genetic tests. At present, genetic discrimination exists more often in thefields of health insurance and employment, health insurers increase premiums or denycoverage based on genetic information of the insured, the employers are usuallybased on genetic information to make adverse decisions to the employee,such as thedismissal, demotion post, transfer, reduction of work-related injury compensationand so on, in addition, genetic discrimination emerges in the fields of adoption,education, army and marriage. Legal regulation on genetic discrimination can protectprivacy rights of individuals and rights of equality, guarantee human dignity ofindividual, what’ more, it can promote social progress and harmony. International andChina’s legislative experiences of science and technology provide reference for legalregulation on genetic discrimination.In the1990s, international organizations such as the European Union, UnitedNations, World health organization and so on made some programmatic documentson specification of genome research and protection of human rights. The Netherlands,Belgium, Norway and other European countries make legislation on legal regulationof gene technology, moreover, in2008,U.S. Congress passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which is the first specific legislation againstgenetic discrimination. In2009, a case sued for genetic discrimination appeared in thejudicial practice field, but the legal regulation on genetic discrimination is still blankin our country. This reality demand needs us to design legal regulation of the geneticdiscrimination system which conforms to China’s national conditions, meanwhile theforeign legal experiences provide the theoretical reference and practical applicationfor our country’s law system, especially the establishment of the legal principles. Theprinciple in our legal system against genetic discrimination should abide by theprinciple of respecting genetic differences,the principle of informed consent, theprinciple of protecting the right not to know and the principle of balance of interests.The system of access and use of genetic information, the system of confidentialityand disclosure of genetic information, the system of responsibility of the relief areindispensable in the designing progress of system. At the same time, with the realityof our country, the system of access to genetic testing system, the system of geneticinformation confidentiality and disclosure should be mainly focused on by thelawmakers. In this paper, the analysis of the genetic discrimination of the concept,characteristics and causes, the research of the significance of genetic discriminationlaw regulation and the law regulation experience from foreign countries all of aboveare in order to provide theoretical basis and practical experience for our country’sgenetic discrimination law regulation. Only depend on the theoretical coordinabilityand practical operability, can legal regulation on genetic discrimination effectivelysafeguard citizens’ rights and promote social development.