Thursday, April 24, 2008

Timely Release and A Unanimous Vote


First and foremost, everyone is jumping for joy since the Genetics Information and NonDiscrimination Act passed unanimously today. But, I will not rest until President Bush takes that lovely little pen and signs this into law. I hate to be called a cynic. I am a realist....But President Bush Will sign this into law. Until that, it is just a passed bill. But it is a start.

Second, the American College of Medical Geneticists has put out a statement regarding genetic tetsing and patient care. Hsien, points this out over at Eye on DNA. She does a great job of highlighting the issues. Which, once again brings me to the point that diagnosing pre-disease is just as much medicine as diagnosing full on disease.

The notable item...

minimum requirements for any genetic testing protocol.”
1. A knowledgeable
health professional should be involved in the process of ordering and interpreting a genetic test.
2. The consumer should be
fully informed regarding what the test can and cannot say about his or her health.
3. The scientific evidence on which a test is based should be
clearly stated.
4. The clinical testing laboratory must be accredited by
CLIA, the State and/or other applicable accrediting agencies.
5.
Privacy concerns must be addressed.
Lastly...with the recent notes that geneticists reach will now be increasing.....We have to start having some minimum requirements.

The Sherpa Says: Well. You have got to ask yourself. If the professionals are stating these are MINIMUM requirements.....what is everyone else doing? And why aren't they all doing the minimum?

1 comment:

J.Kamesh said...

I thought this might be of some interest to all readers
http://lukeskywaran.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-makes-sequencing-of-watsons-genome.html