Pulse
Most Canadians welcome genetic testing
CMAJ 2000;163(2):200
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A recent survey by the financial and managerial firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (HealthInsider, Spring 2000) found that most Canadians favour the use of genetic testing for specific medical purposes.
The survey, which tracked attitudes toward a number of biotechnological advances in medicine, found that 93% of those surveyed felt genetic testing would be very or somewhat acceptable if used to diagnose illnesses earlier. Almost as many respondents (91.3%) said it was very or somewhat acceptable to use genetic testing to determine the risk of transmitting a disease to one's children. Using the testing to determine an individual's future risk of acquiring a medical condition was deemed very or somewhat acceptable by 90.6% of respondents. Interestingly, 91.6% of respondents would give their own doctors access to their genetic information, while only 13.6% would grant the same access to government agencies.
Respondents tended to favour genetic engineering if used for specific medical reasons, with 71.2% viewing it as very or somewhat acceptable if used to cure an inherited medical condition, and 81.2% saying it was very or somewhat acceptable when used to decrease the risk of acquiring a specific condition. Canadians view genetic engineering less favourably if it is used for nonmedical reasons: 24.3% said it would be acceptable if used to improve a child's esthetic or physical features, and 17.8% thought it would be acceptable to use it to determine the sex of a child.
Although Canadians generally feel that the cloning of humans is not very or not at all acceptable (88.3%), they are more receptive to the possibility of cloning human parts for specific medical reasons (see Figure). Eighty-seven percent of respondents felt that cloning skin for accident victims was very or somewhat acceptable, 84.4% supported cloning a heart or liver for transplantation, while 66.4% would accept the cloning of the human brain for victims of severe brain damage. Younger Canadians were more likely to support the cloning of human parts. — Shelley Martin, martis@cma.ca
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