It took over a decade to get GINA through Congress. Since then, genetic medicine has gone from an imagined frontier to scientific reality.
"Genetic medicine is expanding dramatically. So, for example, there are genetic tests available that can give you an idea of your increased likelihood of developing cancer. And once you have that information, you can do things to minimize your risk. You can pursue more preventive or early detection kind of care and really increase the chances that the cancer won't affect you."
For some medicines, there is testing to see whether they'll even work for an individual, whether the medication will cause side effects and what dose is the most effective.
But until now, Baruch says, people passed up genetic testing that could have helped them. They kept information hidden, even from their own doctors, because they had reason to fear that genetic information would be used against them. "Alleviating the fear was one of the primary purposes of GINA, so that we would all benefit from these advances in genetic medicine, rather than having to hide from them," Baruch says.
Now, she says, patients need to be educated about these benefits, and employers have to learn that they can't gather genetic information or family history of their workers.
JHW: The idea that employers could use your genetic code against you is ghastly. What if you are 50% more likely to develop cancer after 40 - should companies be allowed to refuse hiring you based solely on your genetic code?
The Federal Sentencing and Policy Blog had an interesting article (from USA Today, actually) on the U.S. Post Office's recent decision to stop forwarding "Dear Santa," letters by children to North Pole, Alaska. The concern is that children frequently include their personal information (names, addresses, pictures) in such letters that, theoretically, could fall into the wrong hands.
Here is the article:
The U.S. Postal Service, citing security and privacy concerns of children, will no longer forward "Dear Santa" letters to the Alaska town of North Pole, putting in jeopardy the town's 55-year-old volunteer letter-answering effort by the town. The concern is that names, addresses and other private information about small children could get into the wrong hands.
Postal Service officials note that a postal worker last year in Maryland recognized a volunteer in the agency's Operation Santa program as a registered sex offender, the Associated Press reports. The Postal Service now prohibits volunteers in such programs to have access to children's last names and addresses.
Mayor Doug Isaacson says the Postal Service is "running roughshod" over the city of North Pole, whose identity is tied to Christmas, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports. "What grinch would conceive of something so sinister?" Isaacson tells the paper. He says businesses and civic organizations in the town of 2,200 gear up for the program every year "when we're able to really demonstrate the spirit of Christmas."
JHW: Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Back in February 2009, I blogged about a group of hackers that orchestrated one of the most sophisticated bank card hacks of all time. It was a $9 million hack where, for only several minutes, the withdrawal limit for hundreds of ATM cards was temporarily removed. During those couple minutes, a small army of "foot soldiers" took to the streets and withdrew cash, cash, and more cash. Then, just as suddenly as the hack began, it stopped. A flash-mob hack, if you will, and the blogosphere was stunned.
