Denmark

Resources

This page is intended to present key information on privacy and genetic research relevant to Denmark. It contains links to key Danish public attitudes surveys and reports from relevant organisations. Please use the contact pages to make any suggestions or to inform us of any new research.

Language of privacy

The Danish term closest to the English privacy is privatliv, which literally means private life. It is mostly used in relation to informational privacy and is used a something that people can protect from the public. Another possible translation of privacy is uforstyrrethed, literally meaning non-disturbedness. It relates more to spatial privacy and to being without the presence of unwanted people. In a number of cases the concept of integrity (integritet) is used where English speakers might have used privacy, in particular in relation to the phrase “respect for privacy” which would typically be “respect for integrity” in a Danish medical context.

Eurobarometer

• Directorate General Press and Communication (2005) Social values, science and Technology (Special Eurobarometer 225/ Wave 63.1). EC Directorate General Research. Relevant questions: Q15.a.3, Q17.
• Gaskell, George et al (2006) European and Biotechnology in 2005: Patterns and Trends (Eurobarometer 64.3). London, London School of Economics. A report to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research. Relevant question: Q5.3.

Relevant Interests Expressed by the Public

The members of the PRIVILEGED for Denmark report few public attitudes studies towards genetic research/biobanking in Denmark.

Relevant Interests Expressed in Different Contexts

• The Danish Board of Technology (2002) Testing Our Genes Project, included a Consensus Conference (notes on consensus conference method)
• Gammelgaard A., Knudsen L. E., Bisgaard H. (2006) Perceptions of parents on the participation of their infants in clinical research. Archives of Disease in Childhood 91(12):977-80.
• Koch, L. (2004) The Meaning of Eugenics: Reflections on the Government of Genetic Knowledge in the Past and the Present. Science in Context, 17(3), 315-331.
• Lind U., Mose T., Knudsen L. E. (2007) Participation in environmental health research by placenta donation - a perception study. Environmental Health 22; 6:36.

• Svendsen, M. N. (2006) The Social Life of Genetic Knowledge: A Case-Study of Choices and Dilemmas in Cancer Genetic Counselling in Denmark. Medical Anthropology, 25, 139-170.
• Svendsen, M. N. and Koch, L. (2006) Genetics and Prevention: a Policy in the Making. New Genetics and Society, 25(1), 51-68.

Studies Linked to Privacy in General 

• European Values Study 1999 Included questions on value of developments offering “greater emphasis on the development of the individual”.
• PRISE Project (Privacy enhancing shaping of security research and technology – A participatory approach to develop acceptable and accepted principles for European Security Industries and Policies). EC-funded project. Danish citizens interviewed to investigate their attitude towards privacy and security.
  • D 5.3 Danish report - Interview meeting about security technologies and privacy.
  • Annexes to D 5.3 Danish report

Useful Links

• Frank, L. (2000) Epidemiology: When an Entire Country Is a Cohort. Science, 287(5462), 2398-2399.
• Denmark - data protection information at Privireal