CONSULTATION ADVISORY BOARD FOR THE AUSTRIAN MINISTRY OF HEALTH

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Advisory board for the Austrian Ministry of Health

Consultation

Advisory board for the Austrian Ministry of Health



The competent authority for the execution of the Gene Technology Act is the Federal Ministry of Health. As an expert body the Austrian “Gentechnikkommission” (Advisory Board on Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering) provides advice to the Austrian Ministry of Health in all genetic testing issues inter alia.

Having scrutinized and intensely discussed the questions and proposals in the questionnaire the Austrian Advisory Board on Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering and its Scientific Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing and Human Gene Therapy decided to refrain from answering the questionnaire in detail: Some of the questions are ambiguous in their meaning; others can’t be answered seriously without knowing more about future development.

As a matter of fact, in Austria most of the issues involved are already regulated by law: Genetic tests, especially predictive genetic tests are regulated by the Austrian Gene Technology Act (GTG) since 1994. According to this act, facilities, where molecular genetic tests for the diagnosis of a predisposition or the identification of a carrier status of inherited diseases (predictive genetic tests) are performed, need to be approved by the competent authority.


As far as the use of data from predictive genetic tests is concerned, § 67 of the Austrian Gene Technology Act stipulates that any use of these data is prohibited for employers and insurance companies. It reads as follows:

§ 67: Employers and insurers including authorised representatives and co-workers thereof are prohibited to collect, to demand, to accept or else to make use of results from genetic tests of their employees, job applicants or insurees or insurance canvassers. This prohibition also covers the demand for delivery and the acceptance of body substances for genetic test purposes.

In our opinion § 67 is the appropriate regulation for this issue. The Austrian Advisory Board on Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering therefore supports equally restrictive regulations on the European level.





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