Genetic susceptibility

Public Health Genomics is the use of genomics information to benefit public health. This is visualized as more effective personalized preventive care and disease treatments with better specificity, targeted to the genetic makeup of each patient. According to the CDC, Public Health genomics is an emerging field of study that assesses the impact of genes and their interaction with behavior, diet and the environment on the population’s health.

This field of public health genomics is less than a decade old. A number of think tanks, universities, and governments (including the U.S., UK, and Australia) have started public health genomics projects. Research on the human genome is generating new knowledge that is changing public health programs and policies. Advances in genomic sciences are increasingly being used to improve health, prevent disease, educate and train the public health workforce, other healthcare providers, and citizens.

Public policy has protected people against genetic discrimination, defined in Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (2001) as unequal treatment of persons with either known genetic abnormalities or the inherited propensity for disease; genetic discrimination may have a negative effect on employability, insurability and other socio-economic variables. Public policy in the U.S. to protect individuals and groups of people against genetic discrimination include the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), Executive Order 13145 (2000) that prohibits genetic discrimination in the workplace for federal employees, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (2007, first introduced in 2003).

Main public concerns in genomic information are that of (1) Confidentiality (2) Misuse of information (Discrimination by health plans, employer, and medical practitioners) (3) Right and access to genetic information.

One of the many facets involved in Public Health Genomics is the ethical area. This has recently been highlighted in a study by Cogent Research that found when American citizens were asked what they thought the strongest drawback was in using genetic information, they listed "misuse of information/invasion of privacy" as the single most important problem. In 2003, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics published a report, "Pharmacogenetics: Ethical Issues". Authors of the document explore four broad categories of ethical and policy issues related to pharmacogenetics: information, resource, equity and control. In the introduction to the report, the authors clearly state that the development and application of pharmacogentics depend on scientific research, but that policy and administration must provide incentives and restraintsto ensure the most productive and just use of this technology.

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