Privacy, Personhood, and Property in the Age of Genomics

Wendy Bonython and Bruce Baer Arnold
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Wendy Bonython: School of Law, Faculty of Business Government and Law, University of Canberra, Canberra 2601, Australia
Bruce Baer Arnold: School of Law, Faculty of Business Government and Law, University of Canberra, Canberra 2601, Australia

Laws, 2015, vol. 4, issue 3, 1-36

Abstract: Revolutions in genetic technology have heralded the age of population-scale genomic metadata. This article analyzes the tensions and gaps between traditional conceptions of personhood and international legal responses to a person’s right over disembodied data obtained from his/her body. The opportunities for breakthroughs in healthcare by interrogating population-scale genomic databases are accompanied by questions about privacy, property, dignity, and the nature of information regulation in a global economy. This article highlights instances where law and policy makers have grappled with these challenges, and foreshadows some emerging future challenges. It also highlights differences between jurisdictions, and calls for greater global participation in the development of a coherent framework, rather than continued reliance on a small number of stakeholders, to develop that framework.

Keywords: genomic; privacy; bioethics; law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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