The Genetic Privacy of Presidential Candidates

From the New England Journal of Medicine:
The Genetic Privacy of Presidential Candidates
Robert C. Green, M.D., M.P.H., and George J. Annas, J.D., M.P.H.

In the wake of the often bitter presidential election, with its emphasis on negative campaigning and intermittent controversies over the release of candidates' health information, it is not too soon to begin planning for the next presidential campaign. By then, advances in genomics will make it more likely that DNA will be collected and analyzed to assess genetic risk information that could be used for or, more likely, against presidential candidates. Since 1972, when George McGovern was forced to replace his vice-presidential running mate, Thomas Eagleton, after it was revealed that he had been hospitalized for depression, the health status of presidential candidates has been seen by the press as fair game.1 More recently, historians have discovered that some presidential candidates, including Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy, misled the public about their health status and that illness may have adversely affected their ability to perform their duties.

Continued here: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/359/21/2192