LA PROTECCIÓN DE LOS DATOS GENÉTICOS: EL DERECHO A LA AUTODETERMINACIÓN INFORMATIVA
Pertenece a Tipo de artículo1. Datos genéticos. 1.1. Concepto. 1.2 Los datos genéticos: entre la protección reforzada y la protección restringida. 2. Nuevos derechos y protección de datos genéticos. 2.1. Nuevos derechos para nuevas biotecnologías. 2.2. El derecho de autodeterminación informativa como fundamento del derecho a la protección de datos genéticos. 3. Aplicaciones de la información genética y su protección. 4. Conclusión.
The protection of genetic data has been faced, on the one hand, by its integration into the concept of health or medical data, obtaining with this assimilation a reinforced protection thanks to their consideration as sensitive data; and, on the other hand, through by the remission to specific laws which frequently has lead to a decrease of the level of protection. These different legal treatments have determined that the current regulation of genetic data oscillates between the reinforced protection of sensitive data and the lower level of protection of the concrete applications. This article defends the need of new rights -rights of fourth generation- to regulate new situations derived form the new biotechnologies, for example, the right of physical self-determination and the right of informative self-determination. Regarding this last one, this article argues in favour of a specific contents which is –partly- different from the one used by the jurisprudence and the academy. In addition to this, this work defends the need of creating a unitary regulation of the genetic data. It should be a legal frame that includes all their possible applications and that, while assuring their consideration as a specific category of sensitive data, incorporates, when needed, modulations in the reinforced protection that should be granted to these data. These modulations should be in any case in accordance to the interpretation of rights and freedoms in our judicial system.