The public should be careful of signing up for genetic screening tests which search for undiscovered health risks, experts said yesterday.
The European experts say it is better to use genetic analysis to study particular health problems – rather than searching individual genomes randomly.
The European Society of Human Genetics set out its concerns as growing numbers of services offer the public the opportunity to have a full sequencing of their genes.
It says genetic screening can throw up problematic conclusions and cause families unnecessary anxiety.
Professor Martina Cornel, who chairs the society’s professional and public policy committee, said: "Such sequencing generates huge amounts of information that needs to be processed, analysed, and stored in a responsible manner.
"It is preferable to use sequencing or analysis specifically targeted at a particular health problem to avoid unsolicited findings, or those that cannot yet be interpreted, which can cause considerable anxiety to patients and their families."
She added: "We are opposed to the type of opportunistic screening that throws up large numbers of incidental results. If such results reveal a treatable or preventable condition, then clearly it is advantageous to patients to be informed about them.
"But in the majority of cases it is very difficult to interpret exactly what such incidental results mean for patients and their families."
The society has set out its concerns in the European Journal of Human Genetics.
European Journal of Human Genetics 16 May 2013
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