Talk

Karen Rothenberg, currently dean of the University of Maryland School of Law, has “made something of a specialty of the intersection of medicine, science and the law,” In addition to being the founding director of the school’s Law and Health Care program, she had a big stint at the NIH. So, it’s not surprising that she testified last week before the House about the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA).

What she has to say is very thoughtful, as she’s been steeped in these issues longer than most (actively studying them for 13 years). The Baltimore Sun has an interview which everyone should read, no matter which side of GINA you fall on, and especially if you’re undecided: “All in the DNA: Q/A with Karen Rothenberg”

Check out her answers to:

• If this has been an issue for such a long time, why is it just getting written into a federal law?
• Is it really possible to legislate such discrimination out of existence?
• Given these issues, is there really any reason to get this genetic information about yourself? Doesn’t it usually just tell you something you can’t do anything about?
• What about outside of the legal arena — doesn’t this information raise other issues?

Thanks to the Genetizen Blog for pointing out this article.

(Although this is the Week of Science challenge, and this post is about legislation about science, I just couldn’t hold back. I think there’s enough science in the interview that you all will forgive the lapse.)

Technorati Tags: genetic information non-discrimination act, gina, genetics, privacy, karen rothenburg, interview

This entry was posted on Friday, February 9th, 2007 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Privacy, Legislation & Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.