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Incredible, unsettling, unprecedented. I say let's do it.
I was in Starbucks earlier today. My coffee was drained, my knitting was done, when on the way out the door I noticed a newspaper article about 23andme.com, which for $999 will read about 600,000 points on your genome (more about that) and tell you everything that genomics has to say about you.
The author of the newspaper article wasn't sure at first that he wanted to do it. As the website says, "you may learn surprising things about yourself".
There is a chance you could be surprised by what you learn about your genome. For example, you could discover that your father is not your biological parent. You could learn that individuals with your genetic profile are at increased risk of developing a currently incurable disease. You might learn something unexpected about your ancestry. In certain cases, these discoveries could have social, legal or economic implications.
The author wasn't sure he wanted to know his odds of getting various horrid, long-term diseases, and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out he had a genetic predisposition for something he was good at (or wasn't). He really doesn't want to get his daughter tested, not wanting either one of them to believe too much in any kind of genetic predestination for her. (One wonders if he even considered learning he wasn't her father.)
But do I want to know these things about myself? Yes, yes, in a hot moment. Yes, in a cold-blooded lifetime. I believe the coming revolution in personal genomics is going to be huge, and there are plenty of ethical and legal issues yet to be hashed out, but most importantly I want to know. I want to know everything. As some of you know, my father's entire family tree is rotten with cancer; my mother's is not at all. I eat my vegetables, but this process will tell me so much more than all the guessing I could ever do, and much more than how much broccoli to eat. And 23andme is the best option out there, it would seem; this article mentions some other companies in the same space, but they're all much less focused on health informaton for individuals.
The experience is simultaneously unsettling, illuminating, and empowering, says a Wired news article from earlier today.
I'll take that deal. I hope that one of my parents will, as well (to satisfy a much more idle curiosity for me, telling me only what came from which side, but of course just as vital for that parent as learning my own information is for me). And, really, I would urge you to do it or think about it as well. Know thyself. Why? Because life is scary, but the ground truth is out there, and knowing it is maybe the most amazing chance we've ever had to see what's coming and act accordingly.
The author of the newspaper article wasn't sure at first that he wanted to do it. As the website says, "you may learn surprising things about yourself".
There is a chance you could be surprised by what you learn about your genome. For example, you could discover that your father is not your biological parent. You could learn that individuals with your genetic profile are at increased risk of developing a currently incurable disease. You might learn something unexpected about your ancestry. In certain cases, these discoveries could have social, legal or economic implications.
The author wasn't sure he wanted to know his odds of getting various horrid, long-term diseases, and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out he had a genetic predisposition for something he was good at (or wasn't). He really doesn't want to get his daughter tested, not wanting either one of them to believe too much in any kind of genetic predestination for her. (One wonders if he even considered learning he wasn't her father.)
But do I want to know these things about myself? Yes, yes, in a hot moment. Yes, in a cold-blooded lifetime. I believe the coming revolution in personal genomics is going to be huge, and there are plenty of ethical and legal issues yet to be hashed out, but most importantly I want to know. I want to know everything. As some of you know, my father's entire family tree is rotten with cancer; my mother's is not at all. I eat my vegetables, but this process will tell me so much more than all the guessing I could ever do, and much more than how much broccoli to eat. And 23andme is the best option out there, it would seem; this article mentions some other companies in the same space, but they're all much less focused on health informaton for individuals.
The experience is simultaneously unsettling, illuminating, and empowering, says a Wired news article from earlier today.
I'll take that deal. I hope that one of my parents will, as well (to satisfy a much more idle curiosity for me, telling me only what came from which side, but of course just as vital for that parent as learning my own information is for me). And, really, I would urge you to do it or think about it as well. Know thyself. Why? Because life is scary, but the ground truth is out there, and knowing it is maybe the most amazing chance we've ever had to see what's coming and act accordingly.
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I think the odds are 90% that seeing the lab results will change how I look at life. I'll definitely post about the whole experience! It takes a few weeks to get results, though.
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More details please!
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To look at something that's already happened, I almost got LASIK a few years ago but ended up backing out. One reason was that, as I was studying the process, I learned that people with my degree of myopia almost always get cataracts and need lens replacement surgery in their 50s, and vision can be corrected with lens replacements too. That helped me decide not to go for vision-correction surgery just yet, knowing that I'd have a good shot at another one later that wouldn't damage my corneas.
Less verbosely and more on track: There are things that might be cool to know (that SNP that helps to not gain weight on a high-fat diet, just for gloating purposes if I have it), things that could be useful to know (I'm not very sensitive AT ALL to opiods. I've heard this is genetic. I might get confirmation of that, and it might help in some future hospital situation).
And then with the perspective on life stuff, there will be numbers on the major diseases, which of course factor into expected life span. I figure that if I find I have a low chance of cancer (based on genes alone) I'll be utterly delighted and my family will be too; if I find it's really high, then I'll know that and be able to plan and make more lifestyle changes accordingly. (I'm mostly thinking about diet, exercise and supplementation here, but yes, if I find out I'm likely to die young I'll definitely try to do a little less putting things off, and less planning to work my ass off until age 60.)
I had a good friend try to give me the "genes aren't your destiny" talk this morning, which was kind of embarrassing because I know that (duh). But they are about half of destiny. ;) Knowing the indicators gives me a chance to DO SOMETHING about them, if need be, that's the whole point!
Insert disclaimer here about rambling because I have insomnia.