Eye on DNA Headlines for 20 December 2007

by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted December 20, 2007 in Eye on DNA Headlines

• Londonist has a yuletide touch-up photo that is proof we should be wary of genetic modification. YIKES!
• Gene Genie #22 is up at Sandwalk.
• A boy undergoing gene therapy for X-SCID has developed leukemia in London. He is the first among ten children treated at Great Ormond Street who has developed cancer although in 2002, four of eleven children in France undergoing the same treatment also developed leukemia.
• The December 8th Dilbert comic strip featured this line:

  Carol used his DNA container for a snack jar, so be careful.

  Click here to learn what the whole thing is all about. And Scott Adams reveals his true naughty intentions.

• Alan Boyle of Cosmic Log interviews Dr. J. Craig Venter. I found this bit the most interesting:

  Is there such a thing as too much information? Are there some people who don’t want to know what’s in their genes?
  
  In my experience, there are two groups of people: those who really want to know, and those who are afraid to know. I haven’t heard of any people who want to go halfway and see just some of their genes. Some of the same people who are afraid to know are also afraid to go to the doctor’s office, because they might get bad news by being diagnosed with a disease. But one of the major things that I’m trying to teach people is that knowledge is power. If you know this information early enough, you have a chance actually to make a change that’s meaningful to you. If you get the information too late because you waited to go to your physician, you’re in a different category.

  Which category do you belong to?

Tags: genetics, genes, dna, j craig venter

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Comment by NA

2007-12-20 23:35:37

There are three groups, not two. The three groups are: those who want to know, those who don’t want to know, and those who are afraid to know. I would say that there are more people who don’t want to know then the other two groups.

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Comment by NA

2007-12-21 01:34:32

There is a third group: those who don’t care to know. I have spoken with my family about knowing their genetic information. They don’t want to know. They are happy with the way they live their life right now.

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