Kaiser is sending an initial eight-page survey to its 2 million adult members, asking about their lifestyle, diet, exposure to smoking, physical activities, medical history and personal information. Members are being asked to return completed surveys within four months. Next year, Kaiser will ask participants to give samples of saliva and blood in order to obtain DNA and other genetic information. Participation is strictly voluntary and Kaiser Officials are trying to minimize any concerns by its members that the information could be used to deny insurance to individuals. The survey data, Kaiser stresses, is for the exclusive use of its research division and will not be given to health plan administrators.

The information, officials state, will remain confidential. Kaiser's research division will pay for the projects with grants and other forms of outside funding and the division already has $7 million to jump start the project. Kaiser's Research Program on Genes, Environment and Health dwarfs all similar projects except one of similar size in the United Kingdom. The government-backed UK Bioban project was launched last year with the intention to survey and collect genetic material from a like number of United Kingdom residents. Kaiser said it is uniquely positioned for the research because its membership encompasses so many different ethnic groups and economic levels.

The researchers are looking for clues to how a person's genetic makeup influences his or her health in association with air quality, water quality, lifestyles and eating habits. They also said Wednesday that genetic characteristics may influence how a patient responds to drug therapies. Current therapies for many diseases rely on mass-produced drugs that are not effective for all patients and cause different side effects in patients, the researchers said. While a few well-known illnesses such as sickle cell anemia are caused by a single, mutated gene, most diseases are caused by environmental influences and subtle differences in multiple genes, the researchers said. David Kessler, dean of the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, said that most forms of cancer are not related to a person's genes or a single environmental cause. "It is the interaction between genetics and environment," he said. Joe Selby, director of Kaiser's research division, said that people participating in the initial studies won't be informed if their genes put them at risk of certain diseases.

Mainly, the studies will consider genetic variations tied to modest increases in risk, he said. Kaiser researchers are expected to start reporting results of their studies in two to five years. One current study is how genetic factors can influence a patient's response to antidepressant drugs. Another concerns how patients respond differently to blood thinners. Selby noted that the medication causes the blood of some patients to become extremely thin, putting them at risk of bleeding. But the blood of other patients barely responds to the same drug, providing no protection against strokes.Other studies may analyze links between air pollution and asthma, or focus on how water quality or working conditions increase the risk for certain diseases.