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Federal examiners have rejected patents for genetic screening tests because the applicants did not explore their effectiveness for different races, adding to the debate about whether race has scientific validity in modern DNA-based medicine.

Some geneticists, sociologists and bioethicists argue that “black,” “white,” “Asian” and “Hispanic” are antiquated categories that threaten to revive prejudices. Others, however, say that meaningful DNA variations can track racial lines and that ignoring them could deny many benefits of “personalized medicine,” which aims to develop tests and treatments tailored to a person’s genetic makeup.

“Just because of past misuse — in eugenics and during World War II — doesn’t mean we should bury our heads in the sand and shy away from valuable technology that could be leveraged to benefit all of humanity,” said Esteban Gonzalez Burchard, who studies biological variations among races at the University of California at San Francisco.

Officials at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office say they do not require applicants to delineate how well any genetic tests — including those looking for an increased risk for diseases — work by...