FDA Opens Way for You to Test for Cancer Risk by Mail

Health officials reverse course on lab tests, push for faster approvals and direct sales to consumers. Experts worry buyers will get an incomplete picture that’s hard to understand

Thomas M. Burton

The Wall Street Journal

Biography Thomas M. Burton
@TomBurtonWSJ
Tom.Burton@wsj.com

March 9, 2018 5:30 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON—Federal health officials this week allowed a genetic testing firm to sell kits to consumers to test whether they carry gene mutations that put them at higher risk for breast and ovarian cancer.

The action, part of a broader regulatory shift, is the first time the Food and Drug Administration has allowed a company—in this case 23andMe Inc.—to market such a cancer-risk test directly to the public.

It...