Pew Funds Genetics and Public Policy Center's New Consumer Genetics Project
The Pew Charitable Trust has awarded $750,000 to the Genetics and Public Policy Center for a new project focused on consumer protections for applications of genetic testing.
Quick Summary
While Americans are generally very supportive of the use of genetic information to improve their own health and the health of their families, 92 percent are wary that this same information could be used in ways that harm them, according to a public opinion survey by the Genetics and Public Policy Center conducted in late February and early March of 2007.
Americans clearly support the use of genetic testing to further their own health and the health of their families. The public also supports the use of genetic testing in medical research. However, this enthusiasm about genetic testing is tempered by widespread public concern and distrust about the discrimination that could result if insurers and employers access and use genetic test results. Three in four Americans support laws to ban such discrimination. Without such laws, much of the promise of the Human Genome Project to identify the causes of disease and promote public health is likely to remain unfulfilled.
- Date added:
- Apr 24, 2007
- Project:
- Genetics and Public Policy Center
- References:
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1 Apse KA, et al. 2004. Perceptions of genetic discrimination among at-risk relatives of colorectal cancer patients. Genetics in Medicine 6:510-516.
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