Introduction
What we are and who we are is largely determined by our genes, but not by our genes alone.
There is after all a complex interaction between our genetic potential and the environment in which we live and work.
Genetics and occupational medicine
Due to our increasing knowledge about the human genome and the rapid development of gene technology, it will be possible to have a clearer view on the risk of (certain) health problems. At the same time the idea is growing that, owing to genetic research, it will be possible to identify people who have a greater susceptibility to occupation-related disorders.
Perhaps it will be possible to use this knowledge to protect the employee's health better than is currently possible with the means available. However, this very same knowledge can also be used to systematically exclude employees with the unfavourable variant of a certain genetic characteristic (which is known to or is suspected of affecting susceptibility to a certain occupation-related disorder) instead of protecting the person better or, where possible, providing him with work that is better suited to him.
Employees could even be excluded on the basis of a inherited predisposition to disorders which are totally unconnected with their professional abilities but which can give rise to more sick leave or them leaving the labour market prematurely (diabetes, heart conditions, etc.).
Such selection practices are not in keeping with the approach of occupational medicine intended in employment legislation, which is based largely on principles of social protection.
According to Belgian legislation, occupational medicine is, after all, intended to help to protect the health of employees and promote the employment opportunities of everyone who is able to perform a certain function. It therefore includes surveillance of the working conditions and medical surveillance, which are inextricably linked with each other.
Debate
Misuse or the incorrect use of new investigation techniques must be prevented.
It must be possible to guarantee that such techniques are solely used to protect
employees' health. Any use of genetic research in industrial health care must
be the subject of a wide social debate.
A social debate of this kind is urgently needed. The use of genetic tests is after
all presenting itself at a time when the labour market is evolving towards less
stable forms of work, such as temporary employment or by the cutting down on risky
work by larger companies and contracting out this work to smaller companies with
a high staff turnover. To a great extent this flexibility is making it
more difficult to organise and operate an efficient monitoring of health care.
These developments threaten to jeopardise the social protection of the employee.
Aim of the website
The aim of this website is to provide information so as to involve as many interested parties as possible in the social debate about the acceptability of genetic testing in the working environment.
The authors opt for an approach in which modern investigation techniques can be used solely for the purposes of social protection and whereby it must be prevented that people are excluded from employment.
Background information
Anyone who would like background information about the genetic aspects dealt with here can refer directly to the chapter
Basic information on genetics.
We refer anyone who would like background information about occupational medicine in Belgium to the chapter
Basic information on occupational medicine.