10:5-44. Findings, declarations relative to genetic information

2. The Legislature finds and declares:

a. The DNA molecule contains information about an individual's probable medical future. This information is written in a code that is rapidly being broken.

b. Genetic information is personal information that should not be collected, retained or disclosed without the individual's authorization.

c. The improper collection, retention or disclosure of genetic information can lead to significant harm to the individual, including stigmatization and discrimination in areas such as employment, education, health care and insurance.

d. An analysis of an individual's DNA provides information not only about an individual, but also about the individual's parents, siblings and children, thereby impacting family privacy, including reproductive decisions.

e. Current legal protections for medical information, tissue samples and DNA samples are inadequate to protect genetic privacy.

f. Laws for the collection, storage and use of identifiable DNA samples and private genetic information obtained from those samples are needed both to protect individual privacy and to permit legitimate genetic research.

g. Progress in mapping the genes that cause breast cancer and other diseases has far outpaced the development of a legal and ethical context in which genetic information can be properly evaluated.

h. Effective tests to determine the presence of genes that cause breast cancer and other diseases carry with them the devastating potential for discrimination against carriers of these genes.

L.1996,c.126, s.2.