Nine Greek MPs from the New Left (Nea Aristera) have raised serious bioethical and other queries in a formal document addressed to Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis regarding reports that 100 thousand blood samples from newborns had been sent to two private companies for a complete DNA sequencing.
Among other issues put forward in the document, the deputies requested to be informed about the specifics stipulated in the contract on the DNA sequencing of the babies reportedly signed between the Greek Health Ministry and the two firms, including whether a requisite public briefing had been conducted or a relevant scientific evaluation had taken place.
The questions are as follows:
- Is it true that the data from the sequencing will be exclusively owned by one of the private companies involved, and if so, what is the legal and ethical rationale for such an arrangement?
- Is there a provision for explicit, well-documented parental information and consent before participation in the program? How is this consent being ensured?
- Why was there no prior opinion sought from the relevant institutional scientific bodies (such as the Scientific Council of the National Institute of Public Health), and why was there no public consultation?
- How is the protection of newborns’ personal genetic data being ensured against risks of misappropriation, commercial exploitation, or data leaks?
- What measures is the Ministry taking to guarantee that the existing National Neonatal Screening Program, run by the National Institute of Public Health, will not be compromised, given that 3 of the 5 blood drops used for biochemical analysis will be diverted?
