Genetics & the Law
Updated Oct. 13, 2008.
Prepared by Nancy McMurrer; updated by Mary Whisner (2007) & Cheryl
Nyberg (2008). Designed for:
- Law E564 Genetics and the Law
- Law H520 Genetics and the Law
- Law H504, PHG 512, MHE 514, HSERV 590D Legal Ethical, and Social Issues in Public Health Genetics
Note: Some databases are UW Restricted.
Introduction
Issues involving genetics can be found in many areas of the law, from employment discrimination to insurance to criminal procedure to international trade. Depending on your paper topic, you could use materials from almost any field. A student writing about paternity testing might focus on state law (perhaps considering some constitutional implications) while another student researches European Union and WTO law to examine the EU's ban on genetically modified corn. Meanwhile, a third student could be following the details of congressional efforts to regulate stem cell research.
Obviously, one guide cannot answer all the research questions all the students will have this quarter - but it will get you started. As you go along:
- Remember that the reference staff is here to help you. Stop by, call (543-6794), or email the Reference Office. (It's open 60 hours a week.)
- Consider using some of our other guides. We have them on a wide range of topics - e.g., biotechnology and the law, public health law, beginning and end of life, labor and employment law, federal legislative history, foreign and international law.
- For help deciphering legal citations, see the Gallagher guide on Going Beyond Casebooks.
Secondary Sources
No matter what your topic, it is a good idea to begin your research with secondary sources - books or journals that can provide you with an overview of an area. The authors will cite relevant cases, statutes, regulations, and so on to speed along the rest of your research.
Many authors also comment on the law, advocating positions. Reading different views may give you ideas for your own approach to a problem.
Genetic issues are in the news. You will probably want to watch for coverage of your topic - is there a new bill? some scientific initiative? someone urging reform?
Types of secondary sources
Books in the Law Library
- Why you'd want them: overview, citations, analysis, point of view.
- How you'd find them: the Law Library catalog.
Books from other disciplines and other libraries
- Why you'd want them: scientific and technical information, analysis, point of view. (Possibly fewer leads to primary law, less legal analysis and more policy analysis.)
- How you'd find them: UW Libraries catalog or Summit. See the PowerPoint slideshow on Using Summit to Find & Request Books.
Law journal articles
- Why you'd want them: in-depth analysis of narrow topic, heavily footnoted.
- How you'd find them: Start with the
Law Subject page
on the UW Libraries website
- LegalTrac. See the PowerPoint slideshow on Using LegalTrac to Find Law Review Articles.
- LexisNexis Academic (non-law students).
- LexisNexis or Westlaw (law students)
- Hein Online. See the PowerPoint slideshow on Using Hein Online to Find Law Review Articles by Citation.
Legal newsletters
- Why you'd want them: short pieces about very current topics, may
provide citations, newsy, industry inside scoop.
- How you'd find them:
- BNA newsletters (UW Restricted)
- Other newsletters
- a few titles in LexisNexis Academic.
- more in LexisNexis and Westlaw.
Journal articles from other disciplines
- Why you'd want them: scientific and technical information, analysis, point of view. (Less legal analysis than law journals, fewer leads to primary legal sources.)
- How you'd find them: Go through UW Libraries Research Databases or Resources by Subject.
Government reports, congressional hearings, etc.
- Why you'd want them: scientific and legal information, policy analysis, debates.
- How you'd find them:
- Agency websites
- Library catalogs
- LexisNexis Congressional (UW Restricted)
- MarciveWeb DOCS (UW Restricted)
Industry and advocacy groups' reports and statements
- Why you'd want them: information, policy analysis, point of view. (Monsanto will have a somewhat different take on genetically modified corn than the Council for Responsible Genetics.)
- How you'd find them: generally websites.
Tips for searching
- Consider broad and narrow terms.
- Searching for "law" and "genetics" as keywords will retrieve very general works that might have a chapter or a few pages on your topic.
- Searching for "use of mitochondrial DNA in criminal investigations" might get too few sources.
- Generally, you'll use broader searches in library catalogs and narrower searches in periodical indexes.
- Use a broader search in an index (LegalTrac) then when you search a full-text database (e.g., LexisNexis Academic)
- Experiment with different combinations of terms.
- Once you find something, pay attention to its footnotes, bibliography, and links.
- Whatever database you're in, look for help screens.
Primary Legal Materials
Remember to use secondary sources to find references to relevant cases, statutes, and regulations.
Need help deciphering legal citations to cases? See the Gallagher guide on Going Beyond Casebooks for help.
Online
For non-law students, the best online source is LexisNexis Academic, which has federal and state statutes and cases.
Cases
- Choose Legal (red bar at top). Choose Federal & State Cases or Federal & State Codes from the right-hand navigation bar. Within either of those categories, you can use a drop-down menu to get to one state.
- Or click on the Sources tab at the top of the screen to get to sources arranged by Area of Law. For instance, you can search a database of health law cases.
State-specific material (cases, regulations, statutes)
- Choose Sources tab at the top of the screen. Select United States in the Country category. Enter. Then, in the Region pull-down menu, choose the state you want.
Law students have access to LexisNexis and Westlaw.
Federal and state statutes and regulations are generally available on free government websites. See links from Internet Legal Resources.
The Law Library has a complete collection of state and federal statutes. Why do people still use print? It's often easier to work with statutes in print because of the way they are laid out.
Selected Websites
Directories of links
Genethics.ca. Useful site with many links; look, particularly, at the list of Topics.
Biotechnology & Genetics Law. Links to statutes, regulations, other sites.
Government-sponsored sites (federal)
Human Genome Project Information.
The section of the site for ethical, legal, and social issues raised by the
project is
here.
National Human Genome Research Institute, Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Human Genetics Research
President's Council on Bioethics. The Council was established by President Bush in November of 2001, after the charter for the National Bioethics Advisory Commission expired in October. (There's an electronic archive for the old Advisory Commission here.)
US Department of Health and Human Services Privacy Committee. Links to resources about privacy of health information.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Office of Public Health Genomics. Includes a weekly newsletter that reports on genetic discoveries that have the potential to improve health.
Genetic Privacy Act and Commentary, February 28, 1995. (The Genetic Privacy Act and Commentary is also the Final Report of a project entitled "Guidelines for Protecting Privacy of Information Stored in Genetic Data Banks" which was funded by the Ethical, Legal & Social Implications of the Human Genome Project, Office of Energy Research, U.S. Department of Energy. Additional support was provided by Boston University School of Public Health.)
United Nations
UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee. Contains the Universal Declaration of the Human Genome and Human Rights and other documents.
United Nations Enable: Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol opened for signature on 30 March 2007.
Associations, advocacy groups, etc.
Center
for Genetics and Society.
Council for Responsible Genetics. Offers articles and background information in many areas. Has proposed a Genetic Bill of Rights. Includes working group on Genetics and the Law.
Universities, research centers, etc.
Centre for Law & Genetics. Two Australian law schools (University of Melbourne and University of Tasmania). Four portals (Genetics All, Plant Genetics, Human Genetics, and Animal Genetics) lead to "extensive and regularly updated global databases to find online articles, abstracts, conferences, websites, legal cases and statutes."
Georgetown University, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature. A "specialized collection of books, journals, newspaper articles, legal materials, regulations, codes, government publications, and other relevant documents concerned with issues in biomedical and professional ethics. The library holdings represent the world's largest collection related to ethical issues in medicine and biomedical research. This collection functions both as a reference library for the public and as an in depth research resource for scholars from the U.S. and abroad."
History
Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement. Virtual exhibits on topics such as immigration restrictions and sterilization laws. Searchable database of images.
Sources for State Research
Cheryl Rae Nyberg, Subject Compilation of State Laws, KF1.S93 at
Reference Office &
Hein Online (UW Restricted)
Provides citations to books, articles, and websites that list particular
state laws.
National
Conference of State Legislatures,
Genetic
Technologies Project. Contains links to state genetic laws and a genetic
legislation database.
Gallagher Law Library's Internet Legal Resources. Links to reliable websites with legal information, including resources for state statutory and legislative information.
LexisNexis Academic. Provides access to state codes and newly enacted legislation.
- heading(domestic relations)- this search looks for the phrase domestic relations in either the titles or the chapters in a code.
- section(marriage)- this search looks for the word marriage in the caption of a particular section.
LexisNexis: The segment searches from LexisNexis Academic also work in LexisNexis.
Westlaw
Searches all .gov and
.mil websites