개인유전체 시대의 유전정보의 이용과 법적 문제

Abstract

Before 2010, human societies will meet the personal genomics era. Each individual will have his/her own genome sequences completely sequenced. The use of such massive private information has several legal implications. One is the patents of genes. Who can own the patents right while every human being has such genes in his/her genome? Another issue is how much intervention a nation can have over individual genome information. Can a nation own and manage her people's genome information? For science and technology to develop fast, it will be necessary for public organizations maintain the databases and tools for handling genome information. Other issues are ethics in the use of such genome information. The past and present trend clearly show that the main driving force of enhancing science is money. The financial gains from scientific and technological knowledge will dominate the future direction of genome research and legal issues will be of economy problems in the society. The best approach of handling legal issues related to genomic and genetic information is to segregate the inherent social problems from inefficient management from the technical and scientific problems. Most social conflicts are not from the technology itself, but the management and distribution system of the resource and knowledge. Genomic data can bring social and legal problems but the essence is not in science but in the management of the society. A progressive and proactive bills should be forwarded to the society if there have to be restrictions and regulations on the use of genome information. This is because the idea of private genetic data is false. Individuals share nearly the same information with other social members in terms of genome. Genome information can not be personal, therefore, the concept of protecting private genetic information is not practical. Compared to social inequality found among disabled and different ethnic groups, genetic inequality is a minor problem in the next decades.