We wish to clarify several points raised in Ricki Lewis's article on the profession of genetic counseling (The Scientist, Aug. 31, 1992, page 1).

Clinical genetics has always represented a prototype of the team approach to health care delivery. Providers come from a variety `of training backgrounds, including physicians with fellowship training in genetics, Ph.D.'s in human genetics, and master's-

prepared genetic counselors.

The field of genetic counseling as a recognized subspecialty is, and has been since its inception in 1969, practiced primarily (88 percent of the practitioners) by master's-prepared individuals (see the "Professional Status Survey" conducted by the National Society of Genetic Counselors in 1986, 1988, 1990, and 1992; and "Report of the 1989 Asilomar Meeting on Education in Genetic Counseling," American Journal of Human Genetics, 46:1223-30, 1990).

The American Board of Medical Genetics (ABMG), currently the certifying and accrediting body for all providers of genetic care,...

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