A survey of direct-to-consumer genetic testing of small animals in European laboratories

While direct-to-consumer genetic tests are widely used in veterinary medicine, claims regarding communication and counselling issues have not been investigated so far. Our aim was to evaluate the communication channels encountered by clients when direct-to-consumer genetic tests are ordered, as well as access to genetic counselling to investigate whether these concerns are justified.

Checklists, email inquiries and direct-to-consumer genetic test kits were used to survey access to pre- and post-test counselling, as well as adherence to quality standards and guidelines of the website and test reports from 11 laboratories, spread across mainland Europe and the United Kingdom.

Laboratories scored between 50% and 80% on a quality check of their websites using published standards. Prior to ordering genetic tests, counselling requests response rates were 69%, with most replies received within one business day. Genetic test report quality scores ranged between 67% and 78% for the administrative part and 67% to 100% for the test-related part. Seventy-five per cent of laboratories provided post-test counselling. Marked differences in genetic test recommendations were observed within and between laboratories for both Border Collies and Maine Coons, and this was not linked to geographical location, patents, or allele frequency.

The highly variable quality of websites and reports, access to counselling and recommendations on which genetic tests to use can have serious consequences for animal health and welfare. This substantiates the concerns expressed in the scarce veterinary literature.