Does the retail DNA test deserve to be first?

November 3, 2008

According to TIME Magazine, it’s the best invention of 2008. Except that it’s not really new, as it’s based on old technology.

The folks over at MedGadget think that they’re pandering to the test’s advocates, including Google’s Sergey Brin and Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

It’s unlikely that the proponents of the test are aware of, or care about, issues involving false positives or whether the test is cost-effective or not.





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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Chuck Brooks November 3, 2008 at 9:05 am

Also covered by Lee Gomes for Forbes at http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/1027/070.html, which decidedly dissed the whole thing. That Brin’s wife is a cofounder of 23andme.com is another example, if one were needed, of the power of hype and suspension of disbelief.

Chuck Brooks
FutureWare SCG

2 Dr. Val November 3, 2008 at 10:47 am

No one really knows what most genetic tests mean. Until we do, selling them DTC is nothing more than a racket.

http://getbetterhealth.com/no-one-really-knows-what-most-genetic-tests-mean/2008.10.26

Buyer beware.

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