Prof. Wolf Quoted in Science on Revealing Genetic Research Results

Professor Susan Wolf was quoted in Science on the current debate over return of individual research results to participants in genetic and genomic research. In the Feb. 11 issue devoted to challenges posed by data, an article on "What Would You Do?" queries what data, if any, scientists should offer back to research participants. The article states, "Whether to divulge results..., and how, is arguably the most pressing issue in genetics today." Wolf led the first major NIH-funded project on this issue and now is leading a follow-on NIH-funded project based at the Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Science on what results to share from large-scale genomic research using biobanks or archives. "There's little public guidance for researchers on how to handle incidental findings..., according to Susan Wolf, a law professor specializing in bioethics at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis. Those enmeshed in genetics, facing potentially many more such cases, are now seeking common ground. 'I think there is growing consensus,' says Wolf, that what she calls 'some really big-ticket items' should be shared with research participants. But despite 'widespread agreement that that category exists, there is real disagreement and ferment' over what it encompasses." The Consortium will sponsor a groundbreaking national conference on these issues on May 19 in Washington, DC.