Genetic privacy needs a more nuanced approach

摘要

The US National Institutes of Health has warned that research is at a "crucial juncture". Bioethicists are fretting. Scientists are anxious. And all because an article in Science last month raised doubts about the privacy of volunteers who hand over their genetic data (M. Gymrek et al. Science 339,321-324; 2013). "Oh my God, we really did this," said Yaniv Erlich of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge to The New York Times, after his group managed to cross-reference information from public databases to put names to samples of DNA donated to research. One can imagine law enforcement salivating at the prospect of turning a bloodstain into a name and address.