Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing and Its Marketing: Emergent Ethical and Public Policy Implications
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Direct‑to‑Consumer Genetic Testing and Its Marketing: Emergent Ethical and Public Policy Implications Alexander Nill1 · Gene Laczniak2 Received: 24 March 2020 / Accepted: 25 September 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract This paper provides a marketing ethics analysis that addresses the practice of selling genetic tests (GT) directly to the consumer (DTC). It details the complexity of this emergent sector by articulating the panoply of evolving ethical/social questions raised by this development. It advances the conversation about DTC genetic testing by reviewing the business and healthcare literature concerning this topic and by laying out the inherent ethical complications for consumers, marketers, and regulators. It also points to several possible public and company policy adjustments. Because this area is relatively new and incredibly dynamic, its current discussion is necessarily an exercise in the “logic of discovery” rather than the “protocol of validation”. The paper serves as a primer for the types of GT being promoted. It also calls for a public discourse in the academic and general community to uncover and define the ethical guidelines and systemic adjustments necessary to create fairness in the various DTC transactions occurring between genetic test sellers and the buyers/clients of their services. Keywords Genetic testing (GT) · Direct-to-consumer (DTC) · Marketing ethics · Medical marketing ethics · Public policy and regulation
Introduction As described in our Abstract, this paper is mainly about the ethics of marketing Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) genetic tests (GTs). It is descriptive of the genetic test environment, and identifies the main risks and public policy issues raised by DTC GT. Further, it provides a three-step ethical analysis that allows formulating some preliminary recommendations for managers and public policy decision makers. Importantly, the manuscript tries to spark a public discourse among DTC GT companies’ main stakeholders; it also tries to instigate a societal dialogue desperately needed to tackle
* Alexander Nill [email protected] Gene Laczniak [email protected] 1
Department of Marketing and International Business, Lee Business School, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, USA
Sanders Emeritus Professor of Marketing, Department of Marketing, College of Business Administration, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA
2
some of the thorniest ethical challenges raised by this new business practice. Despite the enormous complexities in accurately inferring practical and/or clinically useful information from a person’s genetic code, the accessibility and marketing of genetic tests (GTs) has been exponentially on the rise (Liu and Pearson 2008; Taylor et al. 2006; Phillips et al. 2018; Delbanco 2018). The global DTC genetic testing market is forecast to grow steadily and to be worth over US$1billion by 2020 (Global Market Insights 2019; Friend et al. 2018) and more than $4 billion by 2025 (PR Newswire 2017). One of the main ke
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