Genetic Discrimination

Genetic discrimination occurs when a person is treated differently because they have, or are perceived to have, a gene mutation that causes or increases the risk of an inherited disorder. Some legal scholars define it more precisely as subjecting an individual to negative treatment not because of a physical manifestation of disease or disability, but solely because of their underlying genetic makeup. The concept is grounded in genetic determinism and genetic essentialism, the idea that a persons distinctive characteristics and capacities are fixed by their genes. Protections against it vary by country; in the United States the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act bars employers and health insurers from using a persons genetic makeup against them, and the rise of direct-to-consumer genetic testing has raised further concerns about how such information could be used to discriminate. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/