Released: June 13, 2006

Home DNA tests: Too much information?

Source: By Sandra G. Boodman, Washington Post

Imagine being able to order a genetic test over the Internet - to see if you have inherited a predisposition to cancer or whether there might be a genetic component to your infertility - without having to get approval from your doctor, consult a genetic counselor or risk the fallout that might result from filing an insurance claim.

Now imagine sitting alone at your home computer and receiving devastating news: test results that will forever change your life - and your family’s - in ways you never anticipated.

Those are the promises and perils of the nascent, growing and largely unregulated phenomenon of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests. For the price of a mail order test kit containing swabs to scrape cells inside the cheek, nearly a dozen companies now offer curious consumers the chance, without ever seeing a doctor, to learn whether they carry genes for cancer, blood disorders or other diseases. Some companies are marketing personalized diet or skin care recommendations based on DNA analysis using tests that are not widely accepted in the scientific community.

Spawned by a burgeoning interest in self-care fueled by the Web and the completion in 2003 of the federal Human Genome Project, home testing enables users to “be proactive in managing their care” from the privacy of their homes, according to San Francisco-based DNA Direct, a leading purveyor of DTC genetic tests. 

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