Description
Collection contains the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing (SACGT) records. SACGT was chartered June 1998 in
the Office of Biotechnology Activities, National Institutes of Health (U.S.), to provide policy advice to the Department of
Health and Human Services on a broad array of medical, ethical, legal, and social issues raised by the development and use
of genetic technologies. Issues suggested by the charter included: the development of guidelines, including criteria regarding
risks and benefits of genetic testing, to assist Institutional Review Boards in reviewing genetic testing protocols in both
academic and commercial settings; the adequacy of regulatory oversight of genetic tests; provisions for assuring the quality
of genetic testing laboratories; the need for mechanisms to track the introduction of genetic tests to enable accuracy and
clinical effectiveness over time to be evaluated; and safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of genetic information
and preventing discrimination and stimatization based on genetic information. The Committee's inaugural meeting was 30 June
1999; its charter expired 10 August 2002. Edward R.B. McCabe served as Committee Chair from 1999 through 2002.