In genes we trust? Biobanks, commercialisation and everyday life

Genetic testing has created new business opportunities, which are already evident in companies such as deCODEme and 23andMe. These companies present new visions of 'genetic health' - partly relying on the exceptional role of genetics (the secrets are in t he genes), but also partly relying on a trivialization of genetic risk. The genetic dtc-companies expresses the commercial potential in genetic tests. But they also expresses the need for income in traditional biobanking. Research biobanks are in need of income because biobanking is an extremely expensive activity. Therefore different sources of funding and different business strategies are on the agenda, even in publicly funded biobanks. In this project we will study how genetic risk information is transformed, communicated and percieved in an era of commercialisation. We will follow the risk information on the way from biobank researhers to consumers and everyday life. We will study the main commercial interests in the spreading of genetic risk inf ormation, either by public research or by commercial direct-to-consumer tests, and also ask how this spreading influences deterministic understandings of genes and genetic risk. We will study how commercialization of genetic research affects the trust and the beliefs of participants in biobank research. And we will ask if the exceptional treatment of genetics in society is sustainable, and whether a non-exceptional role promotes or contradicts concepts of good health.