Knowledge about Genetic Risk is Power or is it Fear?

by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted November 2, 2009 in DNA Testing

A little over two years ago, I confessed that I was “just a little scared of genetic testing.” I have two young children and almost every day I see traits in them that I’m pretty sure they inherited from me whether via genes or behavior. If you’re a parent, I’m sure you can imagine that there’s a lot of self-blame going on in our house.

So when it comes to genetic testing, I should want to know but I don’t. At least not right this minute. Haven’t I got enough to worry about?

From Middletown Journal’s month-long series on the battle against cancer – Many with cancer gene don’t want to know.

There are people out there who may not want to know. There’s a subset of people who if they knew would act on the information and benefit and there are others who would rather bury their heads in the sand.

~Dr. Michael Watson, director of the American College of Medical Genetics

NIH Director Francis Collins, however, falls squarely in the camp of those who not only want to know, they act on the info. Well done!

Collins hits the gym following genetic testing from The Great Beyond, Nature blog

Maybe if a genetic test could motivate me to go to the gym and lose weight, it would be worth it.

Comments Off

RSS feed

Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.