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For a Fee, Find Out How You Might Die
by
findingDulcinea Staff
It costs $1,000 to have your genetic material analyzed in a process that can uncover hardwired predispositions to diseases and behavioral problems.
30-Second Summary
The new genome industry will revolutionize health care "the way YouTube revolutionized media," according to geneticist J. Craig Venter, quoted in The Washington Post. "I call it the democratization of the genome."
In 2003, the Human Genome Project completed mapping the human genome, the complete set of genetic material that guides the growth of the human organism. Today, there are over 20 companies that will conduct a partial examination of an individual’s genetic code for a fee.
Mapping an entire code, or genome, is likely to cost around $200,000, reports The Washington Post. But anyone with $1,000 can provide a sample of saliva and discover whether they have a genetic predisposition for a variety of ailments, such as heart disease or glaucoma.
That knowledge can allow people to take preventative steps, perhaps exercising more or reducing their sugar intake.
However, the tests aren’t all about disease. The Washington Post notes that ScientificMatch.com promises to find clients “DNA-compatible mates who will smell sexier to them, have more orgasms and produce healthier children.” Tests can, reputedly, indicate certain personality traits or an increased likelihood of addiction.
But the personalized genetics industry is young, unproven and controversial. Regulatory oversight is lacking and the science is still patchy in places.
Furthermore, the information supplied raises ethical questions. “Life will become a little more like a game of strategy, where we're always playing the percentages, trying to optimize our outcomes,” writes Thomas Goetz in Wired. That said, he goes on to add, “I can bank on my genes and live in the most optimal way ... and still die of a heart attack.”
In 2003, the Human Genome Project completed mapping the human genome, the complete set of genetic material that guides the growth of the human organism. Today, there are over 20 companies that will conduct a partial examination of an individual’s genetic code for a fee.
Mapping an entire code, or genome, is likely to cost around $200,000, reports The Washington Post. But anyone with $1,000 can provide a sample of saliva and discover whether they have a genetic predisposition for a variety of ailments, such as heart disease or glaucoma.
That knowledge can allow people to take preventative steps, perhaps exercising more or reducing their sugar intake.
However, the tests aren’t all about disease. The Washington Post notes that ScientificMatch.com promises to find clients “DNA-compatible mates who will smell sexier to them, have more orgasms and produce healthier children.” Tests can, reputedly, indicate certain personality traits or an increased likelihood of addiction.
But the personalized genetics industry is young, unproven and controversial. Regulatory oversight is lacking and the science is still patchy in places.
Furthermore, the information supplied raises ethical questions. “Life will become a little more like a game of strategy, where we're always playing the percentages, trying to optimize our outcomes,” writes Thomas Goetz in Wired. That said, he goes on to add, “I can bank on my genes and live in the most optimal way ... and still die of a heart attack.”
Headline Link: ‘Genetic Testing Gets Personal’
The “world of direct-to-consumer genetic testing” allows individuals to explore their genetic makeup for around $1,000. According to The Washington Post, “More than 20 companies today offer ‘personalized genomics’ tests that promise to help clients discern from their DNA what diseases they are likely to get, whether they are shy or adventurous, even their propensity to become addicted to drugs.” For many of these transactions, the doctors play no part in a new field generally lacking in oversight.
Source: The Washington Post
Background: Brave new world
Wired examines the hype surrounding the genetic testing industry this past winter, particularly the company 23andMe. “The experience is simultaneously unsettling, illuminating, and empowering. And now it's something anyone can have for about $1,000,” Wired states. Leroy Hood, a trailblazer of genomic sequencing and cofounder of the Institute for Systems Biology, said, “It's not a stretch to say that we could increase our productive lifespans by at least a decade," by acting on the knowledge gained from the tests.
Source: Wired
For less than $60,000, plus labor, Applied Biosystems of Foster City, Calif., claimed last week that it had sequenced the genome of a Nigerian man. Shaf Yousaf of Applied Biosystems said, “These prices will come down further in the next year or two."
Source: New Scientist
In an interview with New Scientist published on Oct. 20, 2007, James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, admitted that he had gotten his genome sequenced for $1 million, a cost he thought too high. “But when it gets down to the cost of a Chevrolet we'll really get the data everyone wants,” he said. “We'll begin to get clues as to why some people are different from other people.”
Source: New Scientist
In a Dec. 6, 2007 article, Technology Review interviews George Church, the Harvard geneticist who heads the nonprofit Personal Genome Project, cofounded the commercial DNA sequencing company Knome, and “sits on the science advisory board of both Knome and 23andMe.” Church argued that personal-genomics services should offer screening services beforehand: “I think before you get that information for yourself, you need to visualize the possible outcomes.”
Source: Technology Review
Video: 'Genetic Testing Could Increase Lung Cancer Survival Rates'
Researchers at Duke University have created a test called the Lung Metagene Predictor to identify patients genetically predisposed to lung cancer.
Source: Topeka, Kan. ABC affiliate KTKA
Related Topic: ‘First Contract Signed to Clone Pet’
On Feb. 18, 2008, findingDulcinea reported that a California woman who claims her pit bull saved her life is paying $150,000 to a South Korean company to clone the deceased dog, Booger. While dogs have been cloned since Dolly the sheep became the first cloned mammal in 1996, the request was supposedly the first commercial cloning. There has not been any proof of a human clone as of yet, but the Clonaid organization claims it has created 13 human clones.
Source: findingDulcinea
Reference: The Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project was completed in 2003. “The finished sequence announced by the international consortium covers 99 percent of the genome and is accurate to 99.99 percent,” according to the National Human Genome Research Institute Web site. The Web site provides a timeline providing information about the project’s history, recent news and the science of genetics.
Source: National Human Genome Research Institute
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