WHAT IS IT?

The Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Scheme Grant funded the Genetic Discrimination Project for the period 2002 to 2005. The Project involved researchers from three Australian institutions, undertaking an empirical study of genetic discrimination in Australia.

The study investigated genetic discrimination across the following three key perspectives:

• consumers (PROJECT A)
• third parties (PROJECT B)
• the legal system (PROJECT C)

There was also a “verification” phase of the project (PROJECT D) in which individuals who reported incidents of discriminatory practice were asked for explicit consent to allow the research team to follow up the alleged incident with the third party in question, for purposes of verification. This was an important new aspect of research in this field which had not been attempted before.

AIMS OF THE GENETIC DISCRIMINATION PROJECT

The aims of the Genetic Discrimination Project were:

• to advance the existing knowledge base, both nationally and internationally
• to establish comprehensive baseline data for further evaluative research
• to generate important outcomes for each of the three sectors, as well as a comprehensive overview of this important new Australian social issue
• to examine the social and legal implications of genetic discrimination in Australia to offer recommendations informing the development of appropriate law

• July 2003
• May 2005