[AngryParsley]

This is not an issue in the US. The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act makes it illegal for insurance or employers to discriminate based on genetic information. See Wikipedia for more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_Information_Nondiscrimi...

Considering how easy it is to get ahold of someone else's DNA and the potential advantages of genetic testing, I think it makes more sense to push for anti-discrimination laws instead of avoiding genetic testing.

[slowpoke]

Except those laws won't do anything to prevent abuse. It's the same as with tracking data, really: the only way to prevent abuse is if there is no data to be abused in the first place. You're severely deluded if you think laws will prevent the abuse of this data, much less discrimination based on it.

[jerf]

But this is a problem society is going to have to deal with head on. Trying to protect your DNA is futile. Maybe you shouldn't post the results, but it doesn't exactly take a lot of serious interaction with the medical system before they're drawing blood for something or other. And in the very near future, they'll probably want to start sequencing your genes almost as often, as we enter the era of being able to tell from your genes whether a given drug will be effective or not, etc.

I don't deny there's a problem, but this is at best a several-year stopgap, not a solution. You will want them to sequence your DNA to determine which cancer drugs will work best when you are sitting in an office with cancer.

The problem is that medical insurance is currently uncomfortably between actual "insurance", coverage for unknown and expensive catastrophic events, and "health care", a program for spreading the costs of health care between many people to equalize the burdens and also sort of cover the insurance use cases. Expanding our knowledge of what you might get starts breaking down the premises the insurance system is based on.

[read_wharf]

Yes, exactly, and we know that insurance companies will find ways to harass if not abuse data when it's in their interest. Remember the health insurance companies that give employees bonuses to find ways to invalidate a customer's policy when that customer suddenly has an expensive claim.

[borism]

how are you planning to get rid of your DNA?

[slowpoke]

You're essentially saying the same as "if you don't want your habits to be tracked and analyzed, get rid of your habits". I'm not planning to get rid of my DNA (why would I?) - I'm just not handing it over to just anyone, least of all a business.

[borism]

you leave traces of your dna everywhere all the time

[CaptainZapp]

So: what about if you apply for insurance and are asked along the lines "if you have any knowledge of a high probability of specific illness due to genetic testing?"

Sure, you can lie. But god help you if you ever need coverage [even for a non-related disease] and the insurance just flat out won't cover you.

I for one rather don't know and don't. One of the major reasons is exactly the one described above.

[danssig]

Personally, I would recommend moving to a country where you don't have to worry about such fears. Any non-US first world country will do.