ABSTRACT. Private sector interest in the practical applications of genetic research continues to grow. Indeed, the increasing availability of clinical genetic services is, to a large degree, the result of the involvement of commercial entities. However, not all are optimistic about the impact of market forces in this context. This paper analyses many of the concerns which have been articulated in relation to the commercializa- tion of human genetics. In particular, it reviews the literature, commentaries, position papers, and relevant law which touch on issues of concern relevant to the Canadian consumer. If you can make a condition a stigma, you can make money on it. 1 Since the start of the Human Genome Project (HGP) in 1990, Canadians have been inundated with reports of the wonders and pos- sibilities of genetics. 2 It is, indeed, an exciting time. Research has progressed at an incredible pace with the discovery of new genes being announced on almost a daily basis. Many believe that more than 90% of the human genome will be sequenced by the end of this century – supplying researchers around the world with an unprecedented tool for the understanding of human diseases. Of course, one of the over- arching goals of this loosely coordinated international initiative is to develop practical interventions – be they diagnostic aids, predictive tests, genetic therapies, or genetically derived pharmaceuticals – that will ease human suffering. We now seem to be on the cusp of an era when this goal of prac- tical application may become a pronounced reality – a time when genetic services leave the laboratory and become available to Canadian health care consumers. This availability will, to a large degree, be the result of the involvement of commercial entities. Driven by the same understanding of the immense possibilities of genetic research which started the HGP (with the important twist of the desire for profit), the private sector’s interest in the applications of genetic Timothy Caulfield The Commercialization of Human Genetics: A Discussion of Issues Relevant to the Canadian Consumer Journal of Consumer Policy 21: 483–526, 1998. Bartha M. Knoppers & Alan D. Mathios (eds), Biotechnology and the Consumer.  1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. [125]