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Home DNA tests raise medical, ethical and legal questions. From: Dean Huffman . (dean@thehuffpeople.net) Wed Aug 22 17:35:48 2007 Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ] Next message: R. Daniel Braun: "Re: Pregnancy At Altitude" Previous message: Dean Huffman .: "NPR Examines Hospitals That Prohibit Vaginal Births After C-Sections" Next in thread: art fougner, md: "Re: Home DNA tests raise medical, ethical and legal questions." Reply: art fougner, md: "Re: Home DNA tests raise medical, ethical and legal questions." .. The San Francisco Chronicle (8/21, C1, Colliver) reported, "Want to find out your baby's gender? Or who the father is? What about whether you possess a gene that makes you more likely to get cancer? These are all tests that now can be taken in the comfort of your own home." Some of these tests can be done without the knowledge or consent of some parties. "Ethicists and medical professionals are also concerned about how patients may react to undesirable results received at home or whether a mother would seek an abortion if her child is not the gender she or her partner wants." And there might be legal ramifications not only for the patients, but also for the companies which manufacture these tests, as is the case for Massachusetts company "Acu-Gen Biolab Inc., the maker of a genetic test that the company says will detect the baby's gender as early as six weeks." Over 100 suits against it allege that it caused "distress by providing inaccurate results." As a result of such complaints, the "federal government is starting to address growing concerns over direct-to-consumer testing." Despite these concerns, "More companies are offering home tests that indicate an individual's propensity for serious diseases, such as breast and ovarian cancer, based on the presence of a genetic mutation." Next message: R. Daniel Braun: "Re: Pregnancy At Altitude" Previous message: Dean Huffman .: "NPR Examines Hospitals That Prohibit Vaginal Births After C-Sections" Next in thread: art fougner, md: "Re: Home DNA tests raise medical, ethical and legal questions." Reply: art fougner, md: "Re: Home DNA tests raise medical, ethical and legal questions."

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