A Genetic Bill of Rights—From Lori Andrews, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, who chaired the federal ethics advisory committee to the Human Genome Project.
* You should have the right to refuse genetic testing and not to disclose genetic information, except in criminal cases in which there is individualized suspicion.
* You should not be discriminated against by insurers, employers, schools, courts, mortgage lenders or other institutions based on genetic tests.
* If you undergo genetic testing, you should have the right to control who receives the results.
* Your genes should not be used in research without your consent, even if your tissue sample has been made anonymous.
* Your genes should not be patented.
Makes sense to me. Yet, apparently 20% of our genes are owned by companies holding patents, which is having a chilling effect in medical testing.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…