CMAJ: Who should hold the keys to your DNA?

Editor’s note: Third of a multipart series on genetic testing.
Part 1: Separating hype from reality in the era of the affordable genome (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-4143).
Part 2: Popping the genetics bubble (www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.109-4142).
Next: Race and genetics in the doctor’s office



CMAJ: Who should hold the keys to your DNA?

"Opinion is divided over whether doctors or patients should be receiving the results of direct-to-consumer genetic tests........."

"“I think there is a need to think this through and to have some balance. On the one hand, we should respect consumers’ preferences and freedom to choose,” says Peter Neumann, director of the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health at the Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts and lead author on the paper. “We should also inform them about the risks and benefits.”
In some countries, governments have stepped in to ensure that doctors are the ones who must inform consumers about risks and benefits. Laws in France, Germany, Portugal and Switzerland stipulate that genetic tests only be administered by physicians. There are no regulations in Canada and few in the United States, though the US Food and Drug Administration has indicated that it will be stepping up efforts in the area...."