19 Mar 2016

Consumer genetics: the legal implications

From This Way Up, 12:28 pm on 19 March 2016
Colin Gavaghan of the University of Otago

Colin Gavaghan of the University of Otago Photo: Supplied

You can now get your genome sequenced for under $1,000, and that price is dropping by the week.  

So what happens when a technology like genetic sequencing becomes a mainsteam consumer product, and starts cropping up in genealogy, legal evidence, and in medical testing? How will this challenge our existing laws in areas like privacy, criminal law, insurance and intellectual property?

Colin Gavaghan is looking at the legal implications here in New Zealand, and around the world:

Colin Gavaghan is the New Zealand Law Foundation Director in Law & Emerging Technologies at the University of Otago's Law Faculty.