Nature Medicine
September 2013, Volume 19 No 9 pp1073-1189
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v19/n9/index.html

Editorial
Privacy and protection in the genomic era – p1073
doi:10.1038/nm.3342
http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v19/n9/abs/nm.3342.html

The establishment of an NIH working group managing access to HeLa cell genomic data highlights the limitations of assuring the privacy of participants in genomics studies. If, as this case illustrates, anonymity cannot be guaranteed, informed consent rules may need to be revised.