Green et al., 2013; Wolf et al., 2008). That is to say, when we conduct a genome-wide screen (for example), to try to find genes involved in alcohol dependence, or, in the future, hypothetically, to create a score to assess likely prevention response, then we will necessarily have information about that person’s risk for a host of medical outcomes, ranging from cancers, to cardiovascular outcomes, to drug response. Do we have a responsibility to return this information to individuals? This has been something that genetics researchers have felt uncomfortable taking on; would prevention scientists feel any better equipped to enter this arena? I would imagine that genotyping information will have to result in large gains in the ability to predict prevention effectiveness to make it worth taking on the ethical and medical implications that generating that information would entail.
