[Ethical recommendations for the genetic screening of hereditary endocrine diseases]

Predisposition to inherited diseases has been extensively studied over the last few years. Genetic studies have created a major concern about the psychological and ethical impact of risk evaluation in predisposed families. A significant number of inherited endocrine diseases are late-onset diseases and genetic risk assessment using molecular genetics leads to more accurate clinical and therapeutic follow-up of gene carriers. We describe minimal recommendations which could be associated to the official French laws published in July 1994 and analyze their concrete applications in clinical and genetic follow-up of patients and kindreds defined as gene carriers in predisposed families.