The Medical Biobank of Umea in Sweden, deCODE's Health Sector Database in Iceland, the Estonian Genome Project and the UK Biobank contain health data and genetic data from large populations. Some include genealogical or lifestyle information. They are resources for research in human genetics and medicine, exploring interaction between genes, lifestyle, environmental factors and health and diseases. The collection, storage and use of this data raise ethical, legal and social issues. In this book, first published in 2007, bioethics scholars examine whether existing ethical frameworks and social...

This book presents a wide variety of viewpints on issues related to genetic databases and biobanks. The authors show that there is a lively ongoing debate on ethical and legal issues concerning, for example, privacy, autonomy, consent, social justice, benefit-sharing and genetics and databases gets a special attention, with analyses of media discourses as well as public views and perceptions. The 43 papers in "Blood and Data were contributed to the International ELSAGEN Conference on Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects of Human Genetic Databases, held in Reykjavik, Iceland, on August 25-28,...