ARTICLE · 17 MAY 2006

Government Response to Genetic Discrimination Report

Clayton Utz

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In December 2005, the Federal Government released its response to the Australian Law Reform Commission's ("ALRC") report on genetic information, "Essentially Yours: The Protection of Human Genetic Information". The ALRC report looks at the legal and ethical issues that arise from the use of human genetic information. Genetic privacy and discrimination were highlighted as issues requiring attention.

AustraliaEmployment and HR

Jon Long

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Key Point

The Government has accepted a majority of the 144 recommendations made by in the report.

In December 2005, the Federal Government released its response to the Australian Law Reform Commission's ("ALRC") report on genetic information, "Essentially Yours: The Protection of Human Genetic Information". The ALRC report looks at the legal and ethical issues that arise from the use of human genetic information. Genetic privacy and discrimination were highlighted as issues requiring attention.

Overview

The report made 144 recommendations, covered a wide range of different topics including information privacy, protection against unfair discrimination in employment and insurance, the use of genetic information in forensic investigations and parentage testing and ensuring the highest ethical standards in medical research and practice.

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