Decease… Death… Die…

The fact that in the research of the human genome the accumulation of the scientific information goes together with the analysis of the social, ethical and law problems which are generated by these researches, is enough noteworthy. This fact engenders the ray of the hope for the future of the mankind which is, in principle, can reveal enough wisdom and not be a subject for self-destruction, thoughtlessly given itself to the freedom of stormy waves of scientific-and-technological advance.

10-yeared history of purposeful studying and discussion of the ethical problems which were generated by the development of the genomics, allowed to get other, not less valuable concrete results. It is possible to say that for this time it was gained a priceless experience of the ethical-legal assessment and regulation of scientific-and-technological advance. People bit by bit began to be oriented and make themselves at home in that new and sometimes strange world which is created around them due to the achievements of genomics. However, undoubtedly, quite often these achievements bring into question our usual ideas about the surrounding world and about us; they make us reconsider our moral norms and values.

In this connection first of all it is necessary to admit that it is no coincidence the stormy development of the genomics was at that century which is legally called informational. Because you know in the known meaning that genomics is the science about the information, that biological information at the basis of which any biological organism is built; the information which it – with these or those modifications – passes on to its offsprings. And it appeared, that information encoded in our genes can present the interest for very different people – for example, for the employers, who can refuse me in work at its basis because with my genetic constitution this work can raise the risk of occurrence this or that illness. This information can be interesting for a person who is engaged with my medical insurance – knowing about my predisposition to some illness, he will demand raised insurance payments from me.

To save a person from the discrimination in such cases, it was succeeded to form the ethical and law norms which became universally recognized – the information about my genes cannot be passed to the third people without my knowledge. Even if somebody wants to use this information for the research goals, he, first of all, must inform me about this and get my agreement.

In some circumstances, however, these norms are generating the serious conflicts of the interests: let’s imagine that there was detected in my genes some deflection which with some time will lead to the serious illness. This information can be literally essential for my relatives. And here there is a question: is it possible to inform about this deflection if I don’t want this at all? Unfortunately, there is no universally recognized point of view about this.

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