The demand for genetic testing in the United States continue to grow. According to Bradley Kreit of IFTF, It’s likely that getting a genetic scan will become a routine part of growing up–not too different from an eye exam or a physical.

However, the direct-to-consumer genetic testing are more difficult and time consuming to explain, since with only a handful of exceptions, genes don’t predict disease, but instead offer probabilities that certain diseases are more or less likely. As a result some think that the test results are misleading and of little use to consumers.

The FDA has also started notifying genetic testing companies that direct-to-consumer genetic testing qualifies as a “medical device” which could potentially subject genetic testing to federal regulation. Whether or not these tests get regulated–and what those regulations could look like–are obviously open questions.

At the same time, it’s unlikely that even the strictest regulations would spell the end of direct-to-consumer genetic testing. In other words, the future of regulating genetics is up in the air, but demand for testing in the United States–regardless of what regulatory decisions get made–is likely to continue to grow.

Daniel MacArthur, who just launched Genomes Unzipped with Vorhaus, has a very insightful take about where we might see this demand finding its supply: Singapore and China!

It’s no more difficult to send a vial of saliva from Texas to California than it is to send one from Texas to China. Which is another way of saying that the genetic testing will be around, regardless of what happens in the regulatory sphere in the United States. You won’t take your kid to a community center or school to find out those genetic risk probabilities; you’ll walk over to the computer and Skype over to India or China for a counseling session….

Source: Bradley Kreit, IFTF July 26, 2010