Direct-to-consumer genetic tests, government oversight, and the First Amendment: what the government can (and can't) do to protect the public's health.

* Policy Analyst, Genetics and Public Policy Center; Adjunct Professor, University of Maryland Law School; J.D., Harvard Law School, 1993; M.P.H., Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, 2000; Former Greenwall Fellow in Bioethics & Health Policy, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown Universities. ** Research Assistant, Genetics and Public Policy Center, December 2002-December 2003; J.D., Loyola Law School, 2000. *** Director, Genetics and Public Policy Center; Associate Professor, Berman Bioethics Institute, Johns Hopkins University; Ph.D., Molecular Biology, University of California at Berkeley, 1989; M.S. in Microbiology, University of Chicago, 1983. XXThis paper was written with the generous support of The Pew Charitable Trusts. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors. 1. One definition of marketing is “the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service; an aggregate of functions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer.” MERRIAM-WEBSTER ONLINE DICTIONARY, at http://www.m-w.com (last visited Aug. 23, 2004). This definition encompasses the advertising of the product to gain consumer awareness and foster consumer demand, and the steps of transferring the good or service from seller to buyer. 2. Establishment of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society, 67 Fed. Reg. 65,126 (Oct. 23, 2002); CHARTER OF THE SECRETARY’S ADVISORY COMMITTEE