The Single Equality Bill: A Missed Opportunity to Legislate on Genetic Discrimination?

In this paper I consider the recent review of the discrimination law of England and Wales. The Discrimination Law Review published its final report, “Framework for a Fairer Future,” in 2008. The report advocated a complete overhaul of the discrimination law in England and Wales, creating a single duty to promote equality. Although many of the consultees had argued that genetic discrimination should be included in the grounds of discrimination, the Discrimination Law Review team and the government have since decided to exclude it from the proposed Single Equality Bill. In this paper I analyse the reasons given for this decision, and argue that this was a
missed opportunity to deal with a problem which will only get worse in the future.

Moral and legal reasons for altruism in the case of brainstem biopsy in diffuse glioma

Co-authored with John Harris

When is My Genetic Information Your Business? Biological, Emotional and Financial Claims to Knowledge

Forthcoming in the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 2010

In this paper I suggest a framework or test which might assist a decision-maker to identify other people who might be considered relevant to their decision to undergo predictive genetic testing. I begin with Mill’s Harm Principle, specifically focussing on the breadth of his group of others. The framework proposed uses types of relationships to narrow the potential others down to those who might have a legitimate claim to be considered by the decision-maker.

Unjustified Discrimination: Is the Moratorium on the use of Genetic Test Information by Insurers a Contradiction in Terms?

Fourthcoming in Health Care Analysis 2010

This paper considers the legal position of genetic test results in insurance law in England and Wales. The strict position is that this information is material to the decision of the insurer to offer insurance cover and should be disclosed by insurance applicants. However, the British Government and the Association of British Insurers have agreed to a moratorium on the use of genetic test results in insurance, which will run until 2014. The moratorium prohibits unfavourable treatment of insurance clients on their basis of their genetics, unless it can be justified. In this paper, I consider the notion of genetic discrimination and ask whether it is possible to justify the concept in such a way that its existence should be accepted. The paper suggests that the insurance industry and the general public have different viewpoints on the concept of discrimination, and that this causes much of the disagreement over the issue of using genetic test results in insurance.