ELSI research examining biobanking also often highlights the issue of research-treatment blurring. On the one hand, many biospecimen contributors are expected to donate without anticipation of individual benefits, thus exemplifying “genetic citizenship.” Some biobanks created from newborn blood spots, or as a result of collection and storage of biospecimens and associated data from hospital inpatients, or even national biobanks, may espouse this perspective. In contrast, other biobanks, including some of those maintained by disease advocacy organizations, are created specifically for the benefit of contributors, with the return of individual results as one goal [D-4, Thiel].
