The theft and testing of an individual鈥檚 DNA is set to become a criminal offence in the UK, as part of a raft of proposed government measures aimed at embracing the potential of genetic technology in medicine, while protecting the rights of individuals.
The UK鈥檚 Department of Health announced on Tuesday that it will spend 拢50 million over the next three years to advance the use of genetics in treating patients of the National Health System.
Much of the money will be spent on developing gene testing and gene therapy. 鈥淚ncreasing understanding of genetics will bring more accurate diagnosis, more personalised prediction of risk and more targeted and effective use of existing drugs,鈥� said health minister John Reid.
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But the government also says it will tackle the issue of possible discrimination against people who possess harmful genes, although it makes no specific proposals.
The new measures are outlined in a government 鈥淲hite Paper鈥�, the document upon which laws presented to parliament are based. Among the more controversial ideas proposed is that all babies are screened at birth, with their genetic profile being stored away for future use.
Tailored drugs
Many scientists welcomed the government push to better use genetic technology in medicine. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a great pleasure for those of us engaged in human genetics research to see that there will be increased resources to support the translation of our research into everyday medicine,鈥� said Veronica van Heyningen, at the Medical Research Council鈥檚 Human Genetics Unit.
The new proposals include:
聲 Upgrading genetic laboratories for an expansion in rapid testing
聲 new research into genetic testing for single gene disorders and for the predisposition to complex diseases like cancer, coronary heart disease and diabetes
聲 research in 鈥減harmacogenetics鈥� 鈥� understanding how patients鈥� genetic make-up determines their response to drugs
聲 encouraging gene therapy research, with particular emphasis on single gene disorders such as cystic fibrosis
Dental floss
At the same time as embracing new genetic technology, the UK government has sought to assuage concerns for civil liberties. Many of these concerns were raised in a report by the UK鈥檚 Human Genetics Commission in May 2002.
The government has accepted the HGC鈥檚 recommendation that stealing DNA should be made a criminal offence. This would 鈥減revent people trying to obtain DNA covertly, for example by taking discarded hair or dental floss from a dustbin, and testing it without the individual鈥檚 consent鈥�, states the White Paper, adding that sensitive information obtained this way could be used to blackmail or expose someone. Such scenarios are not just hypothetical, as illustrated by recent high profile paternity cases involving multimillionaire celebrities.
鈥淭he new offence will apply in all circumstances,鈥� said Reid, 鈥渆xcept as part of a person鈥檚 medical treatment where consent is impossible to obtain, or the lawful use by police and courts.鈥�
But legal expert Graeme Laurie, at the University of Edinburgh, says this 鈥渢hin guarantee鈥� that such exceptions would be rare 鈥渋s unlikely to placate public opinion鈥�.
鈥淭here needs to be a balanced approach,鈥� says Alistair Kent, director of the Genetic Interest Group. 鈥淲hile this law may be necessary to protect celebrities from prying newspapers, criminalising desperate fathers trying to prove their paternity may not be the best approach.鈥�