The first large-scale study of genetic discrimination in Australia is under way, with researchers around the country investigating the positive and minus points of genetic testing. Cases of discrimination will also be investigated.

The study – which will obviously look at life insurance and the industry’s strict code for handling genetic information – is expected to involve more than 3,500 people. Funded by the Australian Research Council, it will involve the Universities of Queensland and Tasmania and the Centre for Genetics Education in Sydney.

Under an agreement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), life insurers are barred for another 18 months from requiring applicants to undergo genetic tests. The decision last December to extend the policy was to allow time for the evaluation and implementation of recommendations into the use of genetic information.

ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel said in December the regulator “continues to accept that there is a public benefit in life insurers not coercing individuals to undergo genetic testing”.