Agents and insurers wary of gene-based tests; Quest backs off notion of genetic testing for life insurance buyers.(News)

Investment News, August, 2005

Byline: Gary S. Mogel NEW YORK - Comments by the head of a major diagnostic laboratory relating to the potential expansion of genetic testing in life insurance have many in the industry wondering whether it's a good idea. "I think applicants would recoil at such testing - it smacks of Big Brotherism,'' said Robert Bland, chief executive of Insure.com Inc.

in Darien, Ill. "We place business with 66 life insurance companies, and I don't know of one that's using genetic testing.'' When Quest Diagnostics Inc. of Lyndhurst, N.J., announced this month that it plans to purchase Lenexa, Kan.-based LabOne Inc., Quest CEO Surya Mohapatra said that the acquisition could lead to life insurance applicants being screened for genetic predisposition to cancer,...

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