Spitting and popping genes
Did you ever toy with the idea of having your own DNA analysed? You didn’t? Well, 25-year-old reporter girl Boonsri Dickinson from the NYC-based Discover magazine did.
Dickinson spat and popped, then she sent, ugh!, saliva and cheek cells by mail and subsequently was disclosed frightening things.
DNA testing isn’t no more bloody expensive. There are a handful of companies that offer DNA analyses, such as Navigenics from California (“Understand what your genes have to say about the future”), Icelandic deCode Genetics (“Revealing what lies within your DNA”) and 23andMe (“See your genes in a new light”), the latter founded by the wife of Google’s Sergey Brin, Anne Wojcicki.
The price range for a SNP analysis, what the companies actually really do, is from $2500 for a Navigenics test to a $399 special offer provided by 23andMe. But what do customers get for their money?
Well, reporter girl Dickinson got a lot.
Navigenics equipped her with macular degeneration, osteoarthritis, obesity, psoriasis, diarrhoea and Crohn’s disease.
23andMe donated dry earwax and a stinky sense of smell. Additionally, the company knew from her SNP profile that Dickinson had the enzyme to digest milk (even though she had suffered from lactose intolerance for years, as Dickinson noted).
At DeCode Genetics’ subsidiary DeCodeMe, finally, CEO Kári Stefánsson himself interpreted Dickinson’s results comprising a risk of developing type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and atrial fibrillation.
Apparently, testing DNA for health purposes is making people sicker than ever.
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Comments
At the risk of annoying many a reader: I am not convinced of the “private DNA testing concept” at all. Most people have no idea of the validity of a given result nor of its possible consequences for inner and daily life (permanent fears to get a “predisposed” cancer; losing insurance protection; etc etc).
- In my opinion, we should therefore do more basic research on
genetic correlations first and afterwards (say, in 5 or 10 years) commercialize it. The present genetic testing business is mostly, sorry!, pure rip-off.
Which is why companies like AlphaGenics looks at our DNA for normal, non-disease traits that relate to our everyday life. Like genes involved with weight, physical appearance, athletics, personality, behavior and social interactions. It’s only a start on the path where knowing our own genetic makeup for our normal life translates into smarter actions that make us happier, today!