What would you do if you had to choose to either learn information that could dramatically decrease your chance of developing cancer in a few years or keep your job and health insurance?

If your health insurer offered to give you a 5% discount on the price of insurance in exchange for your agreement to undergo testing for 500 genetic diseases, would you do it? Would you undertake the tests even if any information gathered from you might be used against your children, siblings, parents or spouse? Is a 50% discount enough? Would you agree if the information obtained could be later held against you when you were up for a job promotion or your insurance was up for renewal?

There are currently over 1,000 tests for genetically-related diseases, and many of these are based on a simple blood test administered in a doctor’s office. Tests are available that indicate that a person is very likely to or will suffer from a late-onset disorder; for instance, a healthy twenty year-old could be told that she will suffer from Huntington’s disease, a debilitating, untreatable degenerative neurological disorder, in 20 to 30 years. Other tests given indicate an increased probability that a person will later suffer from an illness such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer. Genetic testing is also being made available for predispositions toward numerous psychological and behavioral conditions, including risk-taking and aggression.

Genetic discrimination occurs when an institution or individual treats a person, family, or group differently based on that person, family, or group’s real or perceived genetic status, particularly with regard to future health, life span, or tendency toward a certain behavior. The root of genetic discrimination is what George Annas has dubbed “genism,” which he defines as “the theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by genes.”

As the relationship between genetics and disease is better understood, we will be faced with a series of questions: Should people be forced to undergo genetic testing? Should third parties have access to the genetic information of others? Should some uses of genetic information be forbidden and others required?