Volume 32, Issue 5: October, 2005

Abstract

Marketing Genetic Tests: Empowerment or Snake Oil?

Deborah J. Bowen, PhD, Kathryn M. Battuello, JD, MPH, and Monique Raats, PhD, RPH Nutr

Genetic tests are currently being offered to the general public with little oversight and regulation as to which tests are allowed to be sold clinically and little control over the marketing and promotion of sales and use. This article provides discussion and data to indicate that the general public holds high opinions of genetic testing and that current media outlets for public education on genetic testing are not adequate to increase accurate knowledge of genetics. The authors argue that more regulation is needed to control and correct this problem in the United States.