Women in the UK being put under added stress because they are experiencing delays of two years or more for test results to see if they carry a gene associated with an increased likelihood of breast cancer.
According to a report by the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, the situation is so desperate that in some cases women are contemplating surgery to have their breasts removed rather than suffer the frustrating long wait for results.
Women with a strong family history of breast cancer are choosing to have their breasts surgically removed rather risk waiting for long periods for the results and where they can are paying privately in order to get the results sooner.
The charity says some women who had tests in 2002 were still waiting, and there were wide variations between laboratories.
The charity while admitting that the tests can take a few weeks says the process is causing unnecessary anguish.
According to the Government's 2003 genetics White Paper, by 2006 anyone taking a genetic test was promised results within eight weeks for diagnostic testing and two weeks for predictive testing and the government maintains that laboratories are "making excellent progress" in meeting that goal.
Research has shown that around 2,000 cases of breast cancer, 5 per cent of the 41,000 cases diagnosed in the UK each year, result from the inherited form of the disease, carried on mutations to genes named BRCA1 and BRCA2.
A woman who has a fault in one of her BRCA genes has an 85% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer and a 40% risk for ovarian cancer.
Ten to 15 per cent of all breast cancer cases (4,000 to 6,000) occur in women who have a moderate family history of the disease.
The test involves a two-step process, with a living relative with breast cancer tested first (diagnostic testing), followed by healthy relatives to see if they have inherited the genetic fault (predictive testing).
The charity's report follows interviews with more than 50 women with a personal experience of waiting for a genetic test, and 27 genetic counsellors.