Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing and Its Marketing: Emergent Ethical and Public Policy Implications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2022
Publisher
Springer
Source Publication
Journal of Business Ethics
Source ISSN
0167-4544
Abstract
This paper provides a marketing ethics analysis that addresses the practice of selling genetic tests (GT) directly to the consumer (DTC). It details the complexity of this emergent sector by articulating the panoply of evolving ethical/social questions raised by this development. It advances the conversation about DTC genetic testing by reviewing the business and healthcare literature concerning this topic and by laying out the inherent ethical complications for consumers, marketers, and regulators. It also points to several possible public and company policy adjustments. Because this area is relatively new and incredibly dynamic, its current discussion is necessarily an exercise in the “logic of discovery” rather than the “protocol of validation”. The paper serves as a primer for the types of GT being promoted. It also calls for a public discourse in the academic and general community to uncover and define the ethical guidelines and systemic adjustments necessary to create fairness in the various DTC transactions occurring between genetic test sellers and the buyers/clients of their services.
Recommended Citation
Nill, Alexander and Laczniak, Gene R., "Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing and Its Marketing: Emergent Ethical and Public Policy Implications" (2022). Marketing Faculty Research and Publications. 300.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/market_fac/300
Comments
Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 175, No. 4 (February 2022): 669-688. DOI.