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Budapest W3: Emerging Technologies and Human Rights - Class Notes

Human rights issues associated with "old" eugenics and "new" eugenics

 Contemporary eugenics
  • Some forms of genetic counselling
  • "Pastoral" power
  • Prenatal, pre-implantational screening
  • Genetic testing
  • False positive/negative test results
  • Discrimination
  • Insurance policies

Celebrity genetics - Angelina Jolie - had high probability of developing breast cancer after genetic mapping - preventative surgery of mastectomy and hysterectomy

Indigenous groups were immortalised by mapping their genome

Essentialist view - a person is their genetic information - humans are more dynamic than that

Different tests are offered to different populations

Genetic profiling questions - how did you grandmother/grandfather die? Has anyone in your family had cancer?

What is wrong with retention?

Governmental security and political bias
Technological advancements leading to screening from criminal predisposition
Discrimination based on data retention leading to being screened for more crimes (human error could lead to false accusation)

Article 8

1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals or...

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