Topic: Privacy of Personal Genetic Information
Country: Egypt
Delegate Name: Griffin Dennis
School: Roeper School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Egypt position papers GLIMUN 2010 committees
The ethical grey area surrounding the intersection of law and genetics is a vast one, with new issues cropping up with every passing year. In the ten short years since the first sequencing of a human’s genome, many “what ifs?” have been brought up for debate. While we have not yet perfected a system of determining predisposition to disease from genetic information, there is much concern about providers of healthcare not covering or treating certain patients on the basis of such tests.
Here we encounter the single biggest catch-22 in the area of genetic medicine: tests to determine predisposition to disease and genetic disorder have the potential to be massively helpful in the early detection and prevention of disease, but this can also expose the most afflicted to preemptive and unfair denials of service on the part of health care providers in many countries. This is why the Nation of Egypt feels that the ability to protect personal genetic information should fall under the category of a basic right. Much like government issued identification numbers; parties that do not need to be in possession of genetic information should not be allowed to see it. Parsed and unparsed genetic information should exist in the strictest confidence between a patient and their doctor.
Of course, Egypt recognizes that all countries have differing health care systems, but the message to the world in this case should apply everywhere: that governments and non-vital parties should have no right to encroach on the very code of one’s existence. Egypt is willing to work with all nations to define and develop guidelines that will better clarify this difficult area.
