Confidentiality and data sharing: vulnerabilities of the Mexican Genomics Sovereignty Act

A law known as "Genomic Sovereignty Act", instituted in 2011, regulates research on the human genome in Mexico. This law establishes Government regulations for the exportation of DNA samples from Mexican nationals for population genetics studies. The Genomic Sovereignty Act protects fundamental human values, as confidentiality and non-discrimination based on personal genetic information. It also supports the development of the genome-based medical biotechnology and the bio-economy. Current laws for the protection of the genomic confidentiality, however, are inexplicit and insufficient, and the legal and technological instruments are primitive and insufficient to safeguard this bioethical principle. In addition, this law may undermine efforts of the national and international scientific communities to cooperate with big-data analysis for the development of the genome-based biomedical sciences. The argument of this article is that deficiencies in the protection of the confidentiality of genomic information and limitations in data sharing severely weaken the objectives and scope of the Genomic Sovereignty Act. In addition, the Act may compromise the national biomedical development and the international cooperation for research and development in the field of human genomics.