Decoding Your Genome: Helpful Insights or Pandora’s Box?
November 20, 2007
A new biotech company, 23andMe.com, has opened its doors in Silicon Valley. 23andMe offers a genetic profiling service to anyone willing to pay the $999 lab fee and provide a sample of cells from their saliva (much like many of us have done in high school biology class). One of several startups entering the personal DNA market, the company aims to help people better understand the 23 chromosomes in every cell of their bodies, including the ability to explore your genes through a secure, interactive website.
Of the 10 million or so individual nucleotides (SNPs) that vary from person to person in the human genome, 23andMe claims to identify about 600,000 (6%) of them with at least 99% accuracy. While this means you would only learn about a fraction of your entire genome, there is still a great deal of information that can be gleaned. This includes insights into your ancestry, physical traits, and susceptibility to certain diseases.
23andMe provides would-be customers with some things to consider before sending in their cell sample. At the top of this list: “You may learn surprising things about yourself.” They also mention that their laboratory process may produce errors, and caution that “genetics is not destiny.”
While competent adults can and should weigh the pros and cons before signing up, several important questions come to mind. For one, how many people will be able to maintain a critical eye toward the results, as 23andMe recommends, especially if a life-altering disease is shown to be likely in their future? I have doubts that America is ready–both socially and legislatively–for such profound information to be available to the average citizen. Can we take such knowledge with a grain of salt, and not treat ourselves or others as “defective” if something surprising does show up?
In addition, only a few states prohibit genetic discrimination today, so sharing with a healthcare provider that you have an increased risk for a heritable disease could lead to the denial of your health insurance coverage. And while 23andMe assures users that they take many security precautions, by making this information available through the Internet it is never completely secure.
I don’t expect personal DNA sites like 23andMe to open a Pandora’s Box for most people, and it may prove to be a valuable, educational tool for many. But I am concerned that some will jump to conclusions–or be subjected to prejudices–that are not warranted from the results. Can we handle such intimate knowledge responsibly, especially since we are (currently) powerless to change what we find?
