The World Medical Association (WMA) is to draw up ethical guidelines on centralised health databases. The move follows a joint seminar with the World Health Organisation (WHO), which revealed widespread concern about large-scale DNA collection projects.
Delegates at the seminar discussed the issues raised by the genetic database set up by Icelandic firm deCODE Genetics last year. The company aims to collect and analyse DNA samples from all of Iceland's 270,000 residents. 'The public is rightly concerned about whether their right to privacy and confidentiality is threatened by these databases' said Dr Anders Milton, chairman of the WMA.
Dr Daniel Wikler, senior ethicist at the WHO, cautioned that developing countries must receive particular attention, because they are targets for research initiatives even though the level of public awareness may be low. A working party of the WMA will present draft guidelines at the WMA's annual meeting in Edinburgh this October.
Sources and References
-
WMA drafts guidelines on genetic databases
-
WMA to produce guidelines on health databases
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.