Allopathic medicine spilled over into the economic sphere when employers and insurance companies realized how predictive genetic testing is for the probability of serious disease. However, recently, the politicals got involved into economics by legislating an ignore button on the matter. [Not to be confused with the easy button.]

A conference is scheduled on the topic next week at the The Society for Genomics Policy and Population Health (SGPPH) Spring Conference will take place on Thursday 8 May 2008 at the Birmingham Women’s Health Care NHS Trust, Edgbaston, Birmingham (UK). The speakers’ topics are building upon the theme of a previous conference which examined genetic susceptibility testing.  The last year has seen tremendous progress in our understanding of the genetics of common diseases. Recent findings from the new wave of genome-wide association studies are being rapidly translated into commercial testing services in Europe and the United States, with many new tests being offered direct-to-consumer over the internet. This one-day conference will review scientific progress in this area and consider the policy issues raised by this new generation of susceptibility tests, with a particular emphasis on the regulation of consumer genetics.

The aim of the Society for Genomics, Policy and Population Health is to provide a forum for those with an interest in the impact of genetic and molecular science on population health, and puts focus on the policy and the ethical, legal and social issues raised by genomic and post-genomic science and technologies.

National DNA Day is a unique day when students, teachers and the public can learn more about genetics and genomics! It was created to commemorate the completion of the Human Genome Project in April 2003, and the discovery of DNA’s double helix.