Hastings Center Report - Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests and the Right to Know

The Hastings Center Bioethics Podcast

Dealing with genetic knowledge is new for most of us. It’s now possible to order specific genetic tests or analysis of your whole genome. Some of these test sold directly consumers claim to tell your risk for diabetes, heart disease, various forms of cancer, and other conditions. Often, however, genetic tests become available to the public long before the scientific basis for them has been confirmed, leaving consumers vulnerable.

In this podcast, Susan Gilbert, the contributing editor to the Hastings Center Report, speaks with Ronni Sandroff. Sandroff is the editorial director for Health at Family at Consumer Reports and wrote an essay for the September-October 2010 issue of the Hastings Center Report on ethical questions about direct –to-consumer genetic tests. Her essay is part of a special issue on personalized medicine, the use of information to target prevention and treatment to individual patients.

The Hastings Center is a nonpartisan research institution dedicated to bioethics & the public interest since 1969.