As technology continues to advance, whole-genome research
activities seem likely to intensify and expand, necessitating carefully
considered consensus guidelines for ethical research practice. Therefore, an interdisciplinary consensus workshop was convenedto develop ethically rigorous and practical guidance for investigators and research ethics boards.What follows are
recommendations on the four topics that were the focus of the workshop. These topics are consent, withdrawal from research, return of research results, and public data release. The paper starts with initial considerations, including general recommendations about governance and the characterization of the research
activities related to the whole genome.