The National Institutes of Health Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) Policy recognizes participants’ informed consent as integral to responsible sharing of genomic data, stating that consent processes must “explicitly discuss future research use and broad data sharing, even if the data are generated from specimens that are de-identified” before such information may be deposited in publicly available databases. Minors are unable to legally consent, however, and parental permission is valid only until the child turns 18. Do researchers have an ethical obligation to re-contact of-age participants to obtain consent, perhaps years after their genetic data was collected?

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