ABSTRACT
Traditionally the debate on risk of re-identification in biobanks has focused on re-identification through possible release of genetic information, and economic loss connected to such an event. This chapter discusses how databases in epidemiological population biobanks may be used to re-identify of individual donors, and what this would mean for the evaluation of risk to the donor. A good health system is one of the fundamental needs of human beings. It affects the quality of life as well as mortality in obvious ways. The risk to privacy and confidentiality in population biobanking may be understood in two different ways. The first way to understand the risk is that personal and sensitive information can be released to the public by an accidental mistake or undesired technical event. The second way to understand the risk reflects the potential for abuse and private economic profit. People should carry out and promote population biobank research despite the possible moral costs to the donors.
