Ethical Reflection on Developments in Genetic Testing in Connection with Very High Throughput Human DNA Sequencing
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1 National Consultative Ethics Committee for Health and Life Sciences OPINION N° 124 Ethical Reflection on Developments in Genetic Testing in Connection with Very High Throughput Human DNA Sequencing Opinion published on January 21st 2016 Opinion N° 124 2 Members of the Working Group *** Christiane BASSET Laure COULOMBEL Frédérique DREIFUSS-NETTER Cynthia FLEURY (rapporteur) Patrick GAUDRAY (rapporteur) Claude MATUCHANSKY (up to 2014) Francis PUECH * Philippe ROUVILLOIS (up to 2014) Dominique STOPPA-LYONNET * This Opinion is dedicated to the memory of Philippe Rouvillois Opinion N° 124 3 Personalities Heard *** Laurent ALEXANDRE: Urologist, surgeon, President of DNAvision, Belgium Henri ATLAN: Professor Emeritus of Biophysics, Director of the Human Biology Research Centre, Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel François BAUMANN: General Practitioner, Founder and former President of the Société de Formation Thérapeutique du Généraliste (SFTG) (Society for GP therapy training) Roger BESSIS: Sonographer, former President of the Collège français d’échographie fœtale (French College of Foetal Ultrasonology) Louis BUJAN: President of the Centres d’Etude et de Conservation des Œufs et du Sperme (CECOS). Groupe de Recherche en Fertilité Humaine (Centre for the study and conservation of ova and sperm. Human fertility research group); Paule de Viguier University Teaching Hospital, TOULOUSE Anne CAMBON-THOMSEN: Research Supervisor, CNRS, M.D. specialising in human immunoge- netics, Inserm - Paul Sabatier University, Epidemiology and public health analyses, Toulouse Françoise CLERGET-DARPOUX: Research Supervisor, Inserm, Inserm/Université U 781, Hôpital Necker - Enfants Malades, Paris Alexandra DURR: Hospital Practitioner, genetic counselling for hereditary neurologi- cal diseases. Genetics Department. Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris Romain FAVRE: University Professor - Hospital Practitioner, Coordinator of the Cen- tre pluridisciplinaire de diagnostic prénatal, Strasbourg Multidisci- plinary Centre of Prenatal Diagnosis Jérôme LEJEUNE Foundation: Jean-Marie LE MENE, President, and Henri BLEHAUT, Research Di- rector Stanislas LYONNET: University Professor - Hospital Practitioner, Institut Imagine UMR-1163 INSERM and Université Paris Descartes, Necker - Enfants Malades Hospital, Paris Jean-Louis MANDEL: Geneticist, Professor, Collège de France Anne-Laure MORIN: Lawyer, with ALM-avocats Arnold MUNNICH: University Professor - Hospital Practitioner, Institut Imagine UMR-1163 INSERM and Paris Descartes University, Necker - Enfants Malades Hospital, Paris Christine NOIVILLE: Research Supervisor, CNRS. President of HCB. Director of the Centre de recherche en droit des sciences et des techniques (Research Centre for Science and Technology (UMR8056, Université Paris 1) Nicole PHILIP: University Professor - Hospital Practitioner, Genetics Department, La Timone Hospital, Marseilles Opinion N° 124 4 Dominique POLTON: Counsellor to the Director General of the Caisse nationale d'assur- ance maladie des travailleurs salariés (CNAMTS), (National employ- ee sickness insurance system), President, Commission des comptes de la santé (Public health accounts Commission) Michel VIDAUD: University Professor - Hospital Practitioner, Director of EA7331 Gé- nétique, physiopathologie et approches thérapeutiques des mala- dies héréditaires du système nerveux (Genetics, physiopathology and therapeutic approach to hereditary disease of the nervous sys- tem)- Paris Descartes University, member of the CNAMTS scientific council. Géraldine VIOT: Paediatrician, geneticist, Paris Centre Teaching Hospital - Groupe hospitalier Cochin St Vincent de Paul, Cochin Hospital, 75014 Paris Opinion N° 124 5 CONTENTS *** Foreword .......................................................................................................................................................... p. 7 I/ Why a new Opinion? .................................................................................................................................. p. 8 II/ How does the current context modify ethical reflection on human genomics? .......................... p. 11 A. The Scientific context ............................................................................................................................... p. 11 1- Genetics, between science and practice ............................................................................................. p. 12 2- Biological complexity and genetic determinism ................................................................................ p. 13 3- The limits of genomics: the contribution of epigenetics .................................................................... p. 14 4- From genotype to phenotype with regard to health and welfare ..................................................... p. 15 5- What data and what risks? .................................................................................................................. p. 17 a- A change of scale in time and in quantity. .................................................................................................. p. 17 b- The uncertainties of sequencing: the challenges of quality and interpretation. ........................................... p. 18 c- The challenge of data management. ............................................................................................................ p. 19 6- Fields of application ............................................................................................................................. p. 20 a- Medical approach ......................................................................................................................................... p. 20 b- Non medical use ........................................................................................................................................... p. 23 B. The legal context ...................................................................................................................................... p. 24 C. The socio-economic context ................................................................................................................... p. 26 1- New types of demands ....................................................................................................................... p. 26 2- Increasing merchandisation of technology ......................................................................................... p. 27 3- Archiving and merchandising individual data ..................................................................................... p. 28 4- The link between public research and marketable innovation .......................................................... p. 28 5- Repercussions on medical management ............................................................................................ p. 29 III / The future of genetic information in an era of very high throughput DNA sequencing ........... p. 31 A. At the boundary between research and medicine, constructing a science on uncertainty .................. p. 31 1- The theory of uncertainty and risk. ..................................................................................................... p. 31 2- How can medical practice be constructed in the presence of, or even based on, scientific uncertainty? ............................................................................................................................. p. 32 B. The genome: where personal privacy, the heritage and common property converge ......................... p. 34 1- Can sequencing data be made anonymous? ...................................................................................... p. 34 2- Do the technical advances in genetics leave enough scope for freedom and/or autonomy? .......... p. 35 3- From diagnosis to screening, from the individual to the community ................................................ p. 36 4- Preconception screening, between individual liberty and social constraint ..................................... p. 37 5- Will predictive genomics generate behavioural responsibility? ....................................................... p. 39 C. The genome at the boundary between information and consent ......................................................... p. 41 1- The ethical challenges of genetic data ................................................................................................ p. 41 2- Misuse of genetic information and consequential risks .................................................................... p. 42 3- Psychological risks ............................................................................................................................... p. 43 4- What forms of consent? For what purposes? .................................................................................... p. 44 5- The right to know, the right not to know............................................................................................ p. 45 IV / Main issues arising out of this reflection........................................................................................... p. 47 A. The place of genetics in the evolution of medical practices ................................................................... p. 48 Opinion N° 124 6 1- Place and role of genetics under consideration .................................................................................. p. 48 2- Precision medicine ..............................................................................................................................