Genetic Testing Can Endanger Employees
Newcastle Herald
Thursday October 11, 2001
It is thought that 5-10% of employers seek out genetic information to help in making the choice of who to employ.
IN recent times employers in America have been influenced by genetic testing results when deciding to employ potential applicants.
Employers are influenced by the results of genetic testing because they can find out whether the potential employee will have as many days off (if they are prone to be sick or diseases are in their genetic make up) as other applicants.
It is thought that 5-10% of employers seek out genetic information to help in making the choice of who to employ.
But these results are not always correct as they may include some genetic information passed on from ancestors that will not effect them.
Some of the genetic information that can be accessed by employers could say what race background people came from.
This could also help employers who are racist to select only people from a particular race.
The problem is that it is hard to catch the employers doing this.
Employers could make up a number of reasons why they have not employed someone, such as they do not have the qualifications needed.
Employers could easily fire employees for minor mistakes a short time after they have been employed, if they had access to genetic testing information.
There are laws in place to stop such activities as these, like the Americans with Disabilities Act, which means you can only reject people if their disability (or illness) is an obstacle in their work.
Another is Genetic Testing Privacy Act.
This means that only you and your doctor (if you want) can access the information.
There obviously needs to be more information for people getting testing done so that they can have privacy and the laws to protect them from discrimination need to be tightened.
© 2001 Newcastle Herald