Genetic screening is increasingly possible for a large number of disorders. The question of whether or not this approach should be offered at the population level is a challenge to health-care providers, the medical community and policy makers. Genetic screening can be of benefit but can also do harm. The availability of genetic tests at low cost may lead to the systematic offer of screening tests without the appropriate medical environment for providing information prior to testing and counselling afterwards. There is therefore a need to introduce effective and acceptable safeguards, standards and procedures relating to the implementation and organisation of genetic screening programmes. To discuss these issues and produce recommendations from the professional point of view, the Public and Professional Policy Committee (PPPC*) of the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) organised a workshop** in November 1999, in Amsterdam (NL), to which 51 experts from 15 European countries were invited. They received, prior to the meeting, a working paper developed by the PPPC, which was revised after the meeting to take into account the points of views expressed by the participants. This document is now available on the web site of the ESHG. Following the workshop, the ESHG issued statements and recommendations that were endorsed at the Amsterdam ESHG annual meeting, in May 2000. These recommendations are expected to reflect the views of the scientific community.
(1) Genetic screening may be defined as any kind of test performed for the systematic early detection or exclusion of a genetic disease, the genetic predisposition or resistance to a disease, or to determine whether a person carries a gene variant, which may produce disease in offspring.
