t suggests that a person has a BRCA gene variant, he or she is advised to seek confirmation and counseling from a medical professional.)
There’s ample evidence to show that genetic risk information does not change behavior, said Timothy Caulfield, who is the research director at the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta and has studied the use of genetic testing for health promotion. For instance, one study found that giving people information about their genetic risk for developing type 2 diabetes did not change their health behaviors. And simply providing information isn’t enough to make a test useful, said Rita Redberg, a physician at the University of California San Francisco and editor of JAMA Internal Medicine. “There has to be some data to suggest that people are better off having had the test than without it, and I don’t think those criteria are met here,” Redberg said.
Ultimately, it’s up to consumers to decide whether the test will be useful for them. Janssens has been following the consumer genetics market for 10 years and said that even with the limits of the test presented in plain terms, enthusiasm for it is unlikely to be dampened. The marketing of these tests “thrives on the idea that people can make their own decisions,” Janssens said. If a customer believes that the test has utility for them, then in their view, it does, she said, “even though the rest of the world and all the experts and academics think it’s useless.”