With the explosion of the direct consumer laboratory (DTC)
sector, advocates have claimed that these tests remove potential barriers in
our traditional healthcare system and increase access to important healthcare
information while improving convenience. and privacy.
Consumers now have access to a wide range of tests without a
doctor's order, including sexually transmitted infections and allergy screening
and assessments of cholesterol, vitamin D and nutritional deficiencies.
Genetic testing of DTC has received most of the attention
from popular media and may be the most interesting for average consumers. The
available tests range from identifying the origins of individuals and family
relationships to the clarification of some genetic traits together with risk
factors for well-being and genetic diseases.
Some genetic test results may be benign: "they probably
won't like coriander." However, many DTC tests report variants for which
there is little evidence to support association with a trait or health
condition, such as polymorphism of the DCDC2 gene and reading ability.