This is a very dangerous road to travel.

Some things are just better left unknown!

lou

http://www.online-privacy.de.tc

Wow, and the Earth is flat and the sun and universe orbit the Earth.

Genomic testing would be a wonderful preventative medicine tool. We could reduce health care costs a great deal IF discrimination of pre-existing conditions is not allowed (this is largely why there's concern for privacy). Also, people may not want to have children until a cure is found--choices that could save folks a lot of pain and suffering, and could help end the disease as well. Yeah, I know, we can't meddle with nature to end pain and suffering. We can only be humane in regard to other life forms like our pets--but not humans. We don't deserve that kindness.

Imagine you could find out you were very likely to suffer from something unpreventable like Alzheimer's, which is becoming an exponential tragedy. You could start taking medication to slow the process and obtain insurance for long-term disability, reducing social programs like Medicare - IF discrimination of pre-existing conditions is not allowed.

To say that we shouldn't benefit from scientific/medical advancement is the same backward sentiment of those who persecuted Galileo and others during the Dark Ages of a Church State--not unlike Al Qaeda and anti-modernization, equality for women, etc. The same folks who refuse to believe in evolution, climate change, etc. are already in the fetal position. Boy are they going to have their undies in a bundle when contact is made with life from another planet. Their superstitious world view will truly be rocked--it's just a matter of time...

So how about we allow people to choose for themselves what they want to do--you know, free will like God's plan, not Satan's plan of legislating morality. Ha!

I have to say that when I worked as a developer in medicine. I was working on systems to do just this with clinical drug trials. We were looking at the genes of people to tailor cures for segments of the population. The problem I see with these tests is they only show that someone may be predisposed for a certain illness. However, there is still so very little that we know about our genes. Any cures for genetic disease is still decades out and may not even happen in my lifetime. If you get a test, just look at it as you have the test results. This is not star trek and you are not going to be cured in 10 minutes with a hypo-spray.

Along with it being potentially a privacy intrusion against every one of your relatives when the test shows something like alzeimer's or cancer, you could also find out later it was wrong. How would such misinformation effect your life and how many years would you waste living despondently under such a cloud?

Unless you prefer to believe in magic or Ouija Boards, etc., of course you should get the best scientific evidence you can.

Then question the hell out of its validity.

My Jeans are faded blue, thats all I need to know

If the tests were inaccurate then I could understand the controversy. Since that isn't the issue then people should have access to the tests and do as they wish with results.

This isn't rocket science.....We want them but big drug business doesn't...

If someone takes a test and sees that they are prone to whatever and doctors are refusing to deal with it and the government ignoring it............

You are entitled to a second opinion, even if it is your own.........

Another case of big business paying off government [personal] elected officials more interested in themselves than the people they represent.....

I think the most dangerous risk of routinely using genetic tests is insurance companies getting a hold of the data. I can foresee a future where insurance companies genetically screen people and then deny them coverage of certain diseases they're at risk for because of it being a "preexisting condition" or just denying certain people altogether. And if employers had this information, they may discriminate based on genetics by only hiring people without "faulty" genes. It's all very science fiction, of course, but that seems to be the biggest worry here. I think knowing what diseases you are predisposed to could be valuable information to try to change lifestyle habits to prevent them.

Is this one more thing that the government is going to decide what's best for us? I can smell it coming - but mostly I can smell the medical and pharmaceutical vultures wanting a monopoly on it - so get your test done now before it becomes a bazillion dollar enterprise for the health industry, requiring a physician's referral!

There are legitimate privacy concerns about how the results of any medical test may be used by third parties, but an individual should not be denied access to information about their own bodies. Some people will be able to understand the information or will seek professional counsel on the results, while others may do nothing. It's hardly much different than any other source of data we have.

Protect my private data from others, but don't keep me from having access to it. I've had simple blood tests done at the local lab, and most of the time I need to pry the results out of my doctor's office, as if they owned the results and not me.

I am an educated professional with multiple scientific degrees and I don't want to be treated like an elementary school student who needs protection from the truth.

These tests answer nothing. It just throws out a whole bunch of 'maybes'. I think having that kind of information has way more downsides than upsides and has the potential to ruin your enjoyment of life.

Further, any consumer who gets these tests results thinks that they have the skills to interpret this mostly flaky data is a fool. Maybe they deserve to get all the misery this kind of uninformed data mining brings.

If you get sick you get sick...deal with it.

neither you or the article mentions the biggest use of the test- to prove paternity. Doctors say that up to 40% of married men don't realize their child(ren) are not their own. This will cause a dynamic change on the american scene- and will free millions of men from onerous payments, guilt, and being shackled to a nightmare.

The only reason people have yet to share their gene test results with doctors is because they fear insurance companies will call their high risks "pre-existing" conditions. And insurance companies will get away with it. What age and how many people did this supposed study even query??? The article never states that-there is a big difference between a sixty year old and a thirty year old or younger learning such info in regards to how they'll respond. And why haven't you touched on the high risk BRCA+ gene mutation. That entire HUGE population has taken the results, and used it to save themselves from getting breast cancer. And insurance companies got away with murder until about a year ago calling their positive gene results a pre-existing condition... I find this article very interesting in what it has chosen to leave out, interesting and suspicious as usual when a certain interest group wants to feed the public information in a biased manner to steer you to think like them. And the fact that the gov't has impeded Walgreens from bringing these tests to market is total BS! Since when do they care how we MIGHT react (for better or worse)-that is the biggest crock I have ever heard. Where have you oh so caring government and medical teams been when insurance companies have been denying life saving surgries. Spare me! They are worried for one reason and one reason only-it might effect the money slipping into their back pockets in one way or another if gene tests become available. These tests are imperative preventative measures that should be welcomed. They are for our survival-which is exactly why the gov't should never be left in charge of that. It is our right to choose whether to take these tests or not! I can understand, that unlike the gene test that can call an early onset of breast & ovarian cancer-people may not actually get results that give them the option of removing certain body parts as preventative. This can definitely be scary. But it is still our right to choose. How dare they! Gene tests only put you into a percentage anyway-their is always the chance you won't get the disease-and family history still outweighs gene tests as of yet. This is just another example that really makes one wonder if we have cures out there for certain deadly diseases-and our own gov't would keep them from us for fear they wouldn't make as much money of sick people.

Okay this is an area the government should stay out of. How someone uses medical information about themselves is their own dam business. So long as they understand the results of these test are buyer beware, I don't see a problem

As a physician, I recommend against these tests, especially if sold over the counter. At best, they are useful in medical research situations. They have no value to a lay patient, no routine clinical use, and the results potentially create health/long-term care/disability insurance and employability issues. And, false positive results or true positive results for genes that have incomplete penetrance can cause a whole lot of unnecessary psychological stress and multiple unneeded expensive medical tests and procedures. The vast majority of illnesses are not caused by a single gene, but rather multiple genes in certain patterns (i.e. they are multifactorial), and the medical community does not understand these patterns yet.

For some very technical reading, try http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/362/21/2001. If you can understand this article, you can understand how complicated the issue is. Years from now, such genetic testing will be of more value, but currently is not ready for prime time. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/362/21/2028

No test needed. I will continue to assume that I am at risk for everything including death and continue to exercise and live a healthy life. After that it's out of my hands.

Rock..this is not paternity testing, they already have that, a really simple test, that is 99.999% correct, it is called DNA.

Try having your first and possibily only child have Hydran-encephaly, google that. Genetics would be able to tell parents if they could have another child with that, or if it was a fluke accident like in my granddaughters case, no drugs, just had the flu in the first month of her pregnancy, but don't even know if that is what caused it, could have been genetic also. If it is used properly could save alot of heartache!!

pretty narrow article - only discusses the test for pre-disposition to diseases. It barely mentions genealogy, which is a big reason to get a genetic test. Lots of people have a very limited access to family history. These test can sometimes point you in a direction - what part of the world did we come from? how long ago? do I have any Native American ancestors? etc.

Sometimes it can even help get you in touch with unknown relatives (useful for adoptees trying to uncover clues about their background.)