Mogelijkheden en beperkingen van genetisch onderzoek; een advies van de Raad voor Gezondheidsonderzoek

The Raad voor Gezondheidsonderzoek Advisory Council on Health Research has issued a report entitled ‘New applications of genetic information in health care: which knowledge is needed?’ The report is limited to areas where research is likely to have consequences within the relatively short time-span of a few years. These include genetics in diagnostics and screening, pharmacogenetics, and certain inherited diseases in adult age. Complex diseases such as multifactorial ones are not addressed. The report provides a useful overview of the prospects and problems in genetic research and how it will be applied in the years to come. Societal consequences of genetic research are also discussed. To enhance the understanding of complex diseases, epidemiological studies with long-term follow-up that combine genetic data with other data are essential. At the same time, potential privacy risks should be acknowledged and scientists should take extreme care in collecting, handling and analysing such data. The Netherlands Federation of Societies for Medical Research has produced guidelines which researchers should follow when carrying out their research.