Posting DNA Information Online

Popular belief is that one’s DNA information contains the most intimate data about one’s history and one health. When governments have gather DNA data of its citizens for a criminal / security data base, there has been strong objection.

Now the Harvard University gene project has gone in the opposite direction. Instead of guarding DNA information, some scientists are making their genetic data very public. They are putting it online:

“…The goal of the project is to speed medical research by dispensing with the elaborate precautions traditionally taken to protect the privacy of human subjects.

They have volunteered to have their genetic information posted on the internet along with photographs, their disease histories, allergies, medications, ethnic backgrounds and a trove of other traits, called phenotypes, from food preferences to television viewing habits.”

link: Harvard University gene project to reveal DNA secrets of 10 top scientists

Such a bold experiment has its perils. DNA science is really just at its inception. It has been argued that, at one point, DNA science may reveal far more than what one would like to make public. For example, would one want to make public the strong likelihood that one’s children might engage in criminal activity or be prone to certain life threatening illnesses at an early age?

The geneticists at Harvard University acknowledge the risk of the project and are moving forward. Their belief is that the rewards outweigh the risks - and the hope is that the science advances just a bit quicker.

Catherine Forsythe