Genetic Discrimination in the IT Workplace

MisterTut writes "In what could be a troubling trend, one employer- the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway -was found to have secretly run unproven genetic tests on workers suffering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The company was trying to prove that they were not culpable for cases of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from which the employees were suffering. The ethical considerations of such testing, covert and illicit or not, are profound for those of us working in the IT industry."

Comments

Employers should provide jobs

[Anonymous Coward]

And I should be buying everything I need with my paycheck. My employer doesn't buy me car insurance or homeowners/renters insurance. The state has decided to shift the burden for health insurance to employers and that is what has created most of the nonsence that changed the employee-employer relationship to a slave-master relationship. Most of the drive to have employers involved in non-work areas is because of this.

Or you might not...

[AntiCopyrightRadical]

...and people won't think you're an idiot.

Re:I have a "pre-existing condition"

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems to me as if the same argument some people have proposed in favor of abortion ("You're not a person if you are at a certain age, or stage of development, or unable to provide for yourself or survive without outside assistance...") is now being applied to the elderly. Not that I really consider 50 to be "elderly."

Anyway, the only difference is, the elderly can vote whereas a fetus can't. So long as you remain part of a powerful voting bloc, you have less to worry about than your average fetus, I think (although they do get that free ride for nine months).

However, some ethicists (e.g. Peter Singer) are arguing just that--that when you're old, a drain on resources, unable to do anything for yourself, suffering from debilitating diseases, then you should just be put down. Some people advocate this for YOUR good, but it's really for the good of society.

I can tell you right now, FUCK society.

Anyway, just my $0.02.

*sigh*

[SeekerDarksteel]

Flamebait -- Flamebait refers to comments whose sole purpose is to insult and enrage. If someone is not-so-subtly picking a fight (racial insults are a dead giveaway), it's Flamebait.

Disagreeing with me does not make me flamebait. This, however, is: Learn to fucking mod, jackasses. Moderation is NOT a tool to spread your personal political beliefs. If you have a problem with what someone posts, reply. Don't abuse the mod system.

letting other people think for you

[nido]

This "coward" obviously is obviously a fan of the QuackWatch website. Knowing nothing about the history of the organization, he parrots their party line. Which is fine for him.

Are you going to limit your options because some idiot cries wolf?

"THE LAST DAYS OF THE QUACKBUSTERS"...

Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen (jurimed2@...)

I've been following the activities of the "Quackbusters" for about five years, ever since the name Stephen Barrett (quackwatch.com) came up, as a player, against a client of mine in California. I asked the question "why would this group be using a doctor from Pennsylvania, as their witness, when there are 300,000 health professionals in this State?"

Thus began my education. Now I'm going to educate YOU...

The "quackbuster" operation is a conspiracy. It is a propaganda enterprise, one part crackpot, two parts evil. It's sole purpose is to discredit, and suppress, in an "anything goes" attack mode, what is wrongfully named "Alternative Medicine." It has declared war on reality. The conspirators are acting in the interests of, and are being paid, directly and indirectly, by the "conventional" medical-industrial complex.

Millions of health freedom fighters, and members of the public, worldwide, know what I know. Public outrage and reaction is growing. After 25 years of unopposed success, the "Quackbusters" are now in real trouble... "The end" for them, has begun. They, themselves are being hunted.

The "Quackbuster Conspiracy" is in a desperate place now. They know they've lost the war, and are going to pay a terrible price for their actions. The fear is in their eyes...

CRACKPOTS?

Yes. When the self-named "Quackbusters" stumbled around to find a derisive name to call their victims, they picked the word "Quack," without ever bothering to discover it's origins. Its original meaning, from Europe, comes from the term "quacksalver" which was used to describe Dentists who were dumb enough to use mercury (a poison) as fillings for teeth. Look at propagandist, and "Quackbuster" king-pin, Stephen Barrett's website (quackwatch.com), and you'll find that HE IS IN FAVOR of mercury (amalgam) tooth fillings.

Barrett, his cronies, and minions, are not known to do intelligent research.

<snip>

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE?

"Alternative Medicine" is defined as any protocol, action, or therapy that isn't "drugs, radiation, or surgery oriented."

Wrongfully named? Yes. So-called "alternative medicine" is actually the health choice of planet earth. It is a combination of every good health idea invented by mankind, in every country and culture on this planet. There is nothing "alternative" about it. Labeling planet earth's health choice as "alternative" is, and was, a propaganda device.

North Americans have overwhelmingly (by their purchases) made "Alternative Medicine" the "health choice of the people" - for the best of reasons: it works better than allopathic, it "removes the cause" rather than "treating the symptoms," it is cost effective, it makes people feel better and think clearer, and it doesn't have all those horrible effects, and side effects, of invasive surgery or prescription drugs.

More than half of the US health dollar in 1999 was spent on "Alternative Medicine" and it was all out-of-pocket. Conventional medicine is being paid for, and is surviving, only because insurance and Medicare pay for it - the public won't spend an out-of-pocket nickel on it.

Alternative Medicine philosophies fit the "American (I'll make my own decisions)" way of thinking. Allopathic Medicine philosophies fit the "Germanic (follow my orders)" way. "Alternative Medicine" is for people who think for themselves - Americans.

The door to real "alternatives" is barely open. The future of medicine is right in front of us - it isn't in pharmaceuticals - it is in nutrition, body cleansing, prevention, oxygen therapies and energy medicine - all of which are constantly targeted by the sleaziest of the "Quackbuster" soldiers.

source: QuackPotWatch - bitchslapping the idiots who cry "quack".