Genetic Screening: Ethical Issues
Insurance
10.14 Our recommendations about the use of genetic screening and genetic tests by insurance companies follow from the following considerations:-
(i) the difficulty of assessing what may be slender evidence on the genetic susceptibility of individuals to develop polygenic and multifactorial diseases (for example, some cancers and some heart disease);
(ii) an awareness that ordinary commercial practice will lead companies to be over-cautious in their assessment of the risks derived from medical data; and
(iii) the possibility of abuse.
10.15 We recommend that British insurance companies should adhere to their current policy of not requiring any genetic tests as a prerequisite of obtaining insurance. (Paragraph 7.37 summarising paragraphs 7.22 - 7.25)
10.16 We recommend that there should be early discussions between the Government and the British insurance industry about the future use of genetic data, and that pending the outcome, the companies should accept a temporary moratorium on requiring the disclosure of genetic data. There should, however, be two exceptions:-
(i) first, in the case of those individuals where there is a known family history of genetic disease that can be established by the conventional questions about proposers' families, then individuals may be asked to disclose the results of any relevant genetic tests (paragraph 7.28); and
(ii) the moratorium should apply only to policies of moderate size. The limit would be a matter to be settled between the Government and the industry in the context of arranging the moratorium.
The importance of the discussions that are recommended is highlighted by the considerations set out in paragraphs 7.7 and 7.8. (Paragraph 7.38 summarising paragraphs 7.26 - 7.35)