Genetic screening and the right not to know.

This article discusses the basic elements of genetic screening and monitoring, the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, the constitutional issues, and the possibility of government mandated genetic monitoring or screening. The field of genetics offers the promise of unearthing the causes of a wide range of mysterious diseases and potentially finding their cures. Genetic screening and monitoring will play a large role in the application of these new findings. While these technologies offer great promise for the future of medicine, and the eradication of certain genetically linked diseases, until there are cures for persons with the faulty genes, such knowledge can lead to anxious preoccupation with the ever present disease potential within, and discrimination by employers, insurers, governmental agencies, and health care providers without. Given these unpleasant results of genetic screening or monitoring, it is important to assert the individual's right not to know.