Abstract
Twelve years after the National Human Genome Research Institute and the Department of Energy announced the completion of the Human Genome Project, the technological capabilities that grew from the project have now led to a debate about the ethical uses of the vast amounts of genomic data that can be collected and analyzed from individuals. These new capabilities have raised the possibility of “population-based preventive genomic sequencing (PGS) programs with the goal of identifying genetic health risks in adults without known risk factors,” which is the topic of the target article in this issue of AJOB (Lázaro-Muñoz et al. 2015). In other words, we are now debating genomic screening. Lázaro-Muñoz and colleagues present a detailed argument for a “menu approach” to screening, which would allow individuals to selectively opt out of sequencing or analysis of specific genes, as opposed to an all-or-none “panel approach.” […]