Genomics research and its application to next-generation drug design has made significant progress in recent years. The use of medical databases is a requirement for many medical research groups, as was the case for the team led by Stefánsson in Iceland. A social and political debate has arisen on that island nation about the ethical and legal issues stemming from access to and use of this data, as well as the sale of the resulting products. This debate brings to the fore the need to make decisions regarding issues that affect us all.