Consumers have a right to their genomes

Personal Genomics: Access Denied?

Consumers have a right to their genomes.

By Misha Angrist

Technology Review


In April, a startup company called Navigenics threw a swanky 10-day celebration in lower Manhattan to launch its highly publicized personal-genomics service, which offers genetic risk assessments for 21 complex health conditions--such as heart attack and diabetes--that are partly mediated by multiple genes. (I received complimentary genotyping from Navigenics; it normally costs $2,500.) Unbeknownst to attendees, the New York State Department of Health had sent a warning letter a few days earlier to the company and 22 others that offer similar products, telling them that they needed a permit before they could sell their services. New York-based party goers would be unable to partake in Navigenics' testing.


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More info:

"Letting the Genome Out of the Bottle—Will We Get Our Wish?"
By David J. Hunter, Muin J. Khoury, and Jeffrey M. Drazen
New England Journal of Medicine, January 10, 2008