Today, scores of companies, primarily in the United States and Europe, are offering whole genome scanning services directly to the public. The proliferation of these companies and the services they offer demonstrate a public appetite for this information and where the future of genetics may be headed; they also demonstrate the need for serious discussion about the regulatory environment, patient privacy, and other policy implications of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing. Rapid advances in genetic research already have begun to transform clinical practice and our understanding of disease progression. Existing research has revealed a genetic basis or component for numerous diseases, including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, heart disease, and several forms of cancer. The availability of the human genome sequence and the HapMap, plummeting costs of high-throughput screening, and increasingly sophisticated computational analyses have led to an explosion of discoveries of linkages between patterns of genetic variation and disease susceptibility. While this research is by no means a straight path toward better public health, improved knowledge of the genetic linkages has the potential to change fundamentally the way health professionals and public health practitioners approach the prevention and treatment of disease. Realizing this potential will require greater sophistication in the interpretation of genetic tests, new training for physicians and other diagnosticians, and new approaches to communicating findings to the public. As this rapidly growing field matures, all of these questions require attention from a variety of perspectives. To discuss some of the foregoing issues, several units of the National Academies held a workshop on August 31 and September 1, 2009, to bring together a still-developing community of professionals from a variety of relevant disciplines, to educate the public and policy-makers about this emerging field, and to identify issues for future study. The meeting featured several invited presentations and discussions on the many technical, legal, policy, and ethical questions that such DTC testing raises, including: (1) overview of the current state of knowledge and the future research trajectory; (2) shared genes and emerging issues in privacy; (3) the regulatory framework; and (4) education of the public and the medical community.

Such concerns are a deterrent to advances in the field of genetic testing and may limit the realization of the benefits of genetic testing.14 A joint report by the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and the Department of Justice summarized the various studies on discrimination based on genetic information and argued [...] In addition, once the applicant is hired, the employer may request that the employee take a medical exam, such as a genetic test, if the employer can demonstrate that the information from that test is job related and consistent with business necessity."25 Although the combination of the ADA's legislative history and the EEOC's guidance has led some commentators to argue that the ADA would cover ge [...] These laws vary and the National Conference of State Legislatures noted the following: All laws prohibit discrimination based on the results of genetic tests; many extend the protections to inherited characteristics, and some include test results of family members, family history and information about genetic testing, such as the receipt of genetic services. [...] After being reported out of the House Education and Labor Committee, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the House Ways and Means Committee, the bill passed the House on April 25, 2007, by a vote of 420 to 3. On April 24, 2008, the Senate took up H. R. 493, replaced the existing language with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, added new language strengthening the "firewall" betwe [...] The bill also would have prevented the acquisition and disclosure of genetic information as well as applied the procedures and remedies authorized under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to cases of genetic discrimination.

In the fifty years since DNA was discovered, we have seen extraordinary advances. For example, genetic testing has rapidly improved the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as Huntington's, cystic fibrosis, breast cancer, and Alzheimer's. But with this new knowledge comes difficult decisions for countless people, who wrestle with fear about whether to get tested, and if so, what to do with the results. Am I My Genes? shows how real individuals have confronted these issues in their daily lives. Robert L. Klitzman interviewed 64 people who faced Huntington's Disease, breast and ovarian cancer, or Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. The book describes--often in the person's own words--how each has wrestled with the vast implications that genetics has for their lives and their families. Klitzman shows how these men and women struggle to make sense of their predicament and its causes. They confront a series of quandaries--whether to be tested; whether to disclose their genetic risks to parents, siblings, spouses, offspring, friends, doctors, insurers, employers, and schools; how to view and understand themselves and their genetics; what treatments, if any, to pursue; whether to have children, adopt, screen embryos, or abort; and whether to participate in genetic communities. In the face of these uncertainties, they have tried to understand these tests and probabilities, avoid fatalism, anxiety, despair, and discrimination, and find hope, meaning, and a sense of wholeness. Forced to wander through a wilderness of shifting sands, they chart paths that many others may eventually follow. Klitzman captures here the voices of pioneers, some of the first to encounter the personal dilemmas introduced by modern genetics. Am I My Genes? is an invaluable account of their experience, one that will become all the more common in the coming years. "An extraordinary exploration...probing the many roles and implications of genetics in our lives today.... Filled with astonishing insights, this riveting book is vital reading for us all." --Paula Zahn "Klitzman lucidly discusses the moral and psychological complexities that come in the wake of genetic testing.... An important book for anyone who has the genes for pathology, which is all of us, and I recommend it highly." --Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind "An illuminating voyage through the medical, familial and existential quandaries faced by those of us at genetic risk." --Thomas H. Murray, President and CEO, The Hastings Center

Academic Paper from the year 2021 in the subject Leadership and Human Resources - Miscellaneous, grade: 100, , course: EEO, language: English, abstract: Throughout the history of the United States of America, discrimination has been one of the major issues found within employment decisions. To counter these discriminatory actions, laws have been passed to make these actions illegal. For example, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 created protected classes (race, color, religion, sex, and national origin) that could not be discriminated against in employment actions. Later the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 came along to stop discriminatory employment decisions based upon age. Finally, the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 was enacted to stop discriminatory decisions against those with disabilities. A common theme in each of these laws is that they came along to fix a problem. None of these laws were preemptive but were the effect of years of discriminatory actions. But this is not the case with one of the most recent civil rights laws, The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008. Unlike these laws that have been mentioned so far, The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, shortened as GINA, was passed in efforts to prevent discriminatory actions that had little history of occurring (Sarata & Feder, 2015). Instead, GINA was enacted out of fear that with improving gene related science, that an individual’s genetics may at some point be used to discriminate against them.

This is an open access book. The book provides an overview of the state of research in developing countries – Africa, Latin America, and Asia (especially India) and why research and publications are important in these regions. It addresses budding but struggling academics in low and middle-income countries. It is written mainly by senior colleagues who have experienced and recognized the challenges with design, documentation, and publication of health research in the developing world. The book includes short chapters providing insight into planning research at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, issues related to research ethics, and conduct of clinical trials. It also serves as a guide towards establishing a research question and research methodology. It covers important concepts such as writing a paper, the submission process, dealing with rejection and revisions, and covers additional topics such as planning lectures and presentations. The book will be useful for graduates, postgraduates, teachers as well as physicians and practitioners all over the developing world who are interested in academic medicine and wish to do medical research.