blog.bioethics.net
a Nature Top 50 science blog from The American Journal of Bioethics
Entries from blog.bioethics.net tagged with 'genetic testing'
Will The Down syndrome Children Disappear?
This is the incredibly provocative question asked by a Children's Hospital Boston researcher in a recent article published in Archives of Disease in Childhood. Given the new prenatal tests available to mothers, the author, Brian Skotko, asks, are we entering an era where slowly Down Syndrome babies will begin to... (read the rest)
Botched Prenatal Test = Botched Knee Surgery? I Don't Think So.
But if you as Susan Wolf, professor at the University of Minnesota, she would tell you that suing for one screwed up procedure is no different than suing for another. Except for one small detail: when you screw up a prenatal test, the outcome can be that you have a... (read the rest)
Special Double Issue AJOB 9:6-7 Available Now on Bioethics.net
Facebook and other social networking sites. Direct-to-consumer genetic testing. A taxonomy for empirical bioethics. The issues were so important, so numerous, and so overwhelming that it took a special DOUBLE issue of AJOB to cover them all. The response from the field, and from those outside bioethics, was so voluminous... (read the rest)
State Wants 23andMe to Incinerate Spit
No, I'm really not kidding. In their own version of "No DNA Left Behind", the New York State Department of Health is requiring that samples collected within the state must be destroyed because it does not have a license to operate as a laboratory and "labs can only order tests... (read the rest)
Is the Era of Personalized Medicine (Almost) Really Here?
In the last week, I've read two news items that have resulted in my asking the question, "Is the era of personalized medicine really here? It would seem as though it is still a long way off--as we do not hear from physicians or anyone else for that matter that... (read the rest)
Track or Cross-Country? Genetic Tests Tell You How Your Kid Will Run
As of Monday, a Colorado-based company will begin offering a genetic test to help parents determine whether their child would be better suited to sprint or to run longer distances, says the NYT. Atlas Sports Genetics is offering this test for just $149 to parents who want to "match them... (read the rest)
Parents Don't Sweat the Gene Stuff
According to US News and World Report, a recent study done by researchers from the University of Michigan reports that parents do not overreact to genetic test results for their children, and in fact, treat the data similar to family history. What do these findings suggest? Predictive genetic testing for... (read the rest)
Consider the Source
The American College of Preventive Medicine has announced via MarketWatch that it will be producing a new CME program to help physicians understand genetic information in the coming era of personalized medicine. The funds for this project called "Genetic Risk, Screening, and Intervention", come from an "unrestricted grant" from Navigenetics.... (read the rest)
The Hairy Truth about Alcohol Consumption
Many people think that hair conveys a lot about a person's personality; others see it as just this nuisance growing out of the top of one's head requiring maintenance. But now, hair holds the secret to what can be anything from a social habit to a serious addiction. That's right:... (read the rest)
Caplan Asks Whether Genetic Tests Are Worth The Price
Last week in his MSNBC column, Art Caplan asks whether breast cancer genetic tests are worth the price or whether biotech companies are cashing in on women's cancer fears. Below is the full text of the column: Breast cancer gene tests -- not worth the price? Biotechnology firms hope to... (read the rest)
23andHerBreasts
On Thursday, 23andMe announced their latest initiative aimed at bringing together the largest cohort of women with breast cancer "to build an infrastructure, based on genetics, that will accelerate consumer-based research of the disease." The women who opt for 23andMe's genetic testing services can opt-in for other kinds of surveys... (read the rest)
Google Guy Has Parkinson's....Mutation
On Friday, Sergey Brin, one of the famous masterminds behind Google's takeover of the world, announced that he has one of the genetic mutations associated with Parkinson's. As Ned Potter reported, his wife, Anne Wojcicki, who owns 23andMe does precisely this kind of predictive genetic testing and allows people to... (read the rest)
New Yorker Ridicules DTC Genetic Testing
Anyone catch the piece "Double Helix Dept: Ptooey!" in the Talk of the Town section of the New Yorker (Sept 22, 2008)? 'Tis yet another take on 23andMe, the direct-to-consumer genetic testing company. Well-written and pithy, of course, it was nonetheless too lightweight to be of much practical use, except... (read the rest)
Unintended consequences from GINA?
Many have hailed the passage of the Genetic Information Nondescrimination Act as a major policy advance. And while there are certainly people who will benefit from the protections included in the law, Emory's Ani B. Satz argues in the Atlanta Journal Constitution that many will also lose out because of... (read the rest)
Blood Matters
In NYT this weekend, Jennifer Senior reviewed Masha Gessen's Blood Matters: From Inherited Illness to Designer Babies, How the World and I Found Ourselves in the Future of the Gene this weekend: ... While it was Gessen’s misfortune to have inherited her mother’s cruel mutation [BRCA1], it was her good... (read the rest)
Here's GINA
By Ricki Lewis The human genetics community is eagerly awaiting imminent passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act in the Senate. The law, in the works since 1995, prohibits health insurance companies and employers from using private genetic information in coverage and hiring decisions; from requiring genetic screens or tests;... (read the rest)
The gap is widening on genetic testing, too
By Ricki Lewis Yesterday, Ricki examined the growing gap between science and the public on stem cells. Today, she turns her attention to genetic testing. Marketing tests based on whole genome association (WGA) studies were perhaps inevitable, for the approach makes theoretical sense. Scan genomes of people who share a... (read the rest)
Human ES Cells for Huntington Disease – the Australian Way
By Ricki Lewis Palm Springs – I’ve been hearing about stem cells at scientific meetings for nearly a decade – from the yearly International Society for Stem Cell Research meetings, to stem cell symposia at various large conferences, to focused events such as the New York Stem Cell Foundation meetings.... (read the rest)
Science's Breakthrough of 2007
And the winner is... human genetic variation. From the journal's article explaining its choice: The unveiling of the human genome almost 7 years ago cast the first faint light on our complete genetic makeup. Since then, each new genome sequenced and each new individual studied has illuminated our genomic landscape... (read the rest)
Art Caplan at MSNBC: Does this man look black to you?
Art writes that James Watson's own genes raise questions about the meaning of race: One of the greatest scientific achievements of the 20th century should now be attributed to a black man, or so it seems. James Watson, the man who worked with Francis Crick to identify the double-helical structure... (read the rest)
NYT: In DNA Era, New Worries About Prejudice
Amy Harmon continues her series of articles about the DNA age with a piece about concerns prompted by research into genetic variation between ethnic groups. From the piece: Such developments are providing some of the first tangible benefits of the genetic revolution. Yet some social critics fear they may also... (read the rest)
Developing a system around newborn screening
Via Jim Fossett comes this story from today's Wall Street Journal about some of the problems surrounding the screening of newborns for genetic disorders. The Journal cites a March of Dimes figure indicating that the number of children being screened for these conditions has more than doubled in the past... (read the rest)
Digging up the Gipper
The AP reports that the family of Notre Dame football great George Gipp (of Knute Rockne's famous "Win one for the Gipper!") recently exhumed their ancestor for DNA testing. The exhumation didn't sit well with some members of the Gipp family. One called it "a desecration" and another said "It’s... (read the rest)
Calling "Not it!" on paying for the genomics revolution
The Economist recently reviewed the rapidly growing field of individualized genetic testing and personalized medicine. It covered a lot of the usual questions about privacy, but the article is primarily about health insurance. The short story: the promise of genetic medicine has insurance companies a little worried. Why? They figure... (read the rest)
The language of "wrongful birth"
A jury awarded $23.5 million today to a Florida couple in what's been touted as a "wrongful birth" case. Amara and Daniel Estrada filed suit after a geneticist at the University of South Florida failed to diagnose Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome in their first son and assured the couple there was no... (read the rest)
Genetic testing in the media spotlight
The implications of genetic testing have gotten some high profile media coverage in the last week. NYT produced a package of multimedia content around Amy Harmon's Sunday article about a young woman's decision to get tested for the Huntington's gene. Here's a snip: The test, the counselor said, had come... (read the rest)
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