23andme: Evil Or The Way Of The Future?

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1. www.carversation.com
   

   November 17th, 2007 at 3:14 am

   this is really cool idea. i guess the site ideas run in family.

2. Berci Meskó
   

   November 17th, 2007 at 3:27 am

   Then you may like this article: Navigenics, 23andMe and Helix Health: The Review

   http://tinyurl.com/ynqnb5

3. esofthub
   

   November 17th, 2007 at 3:27 am

   I was thinking the same thing: Uma Thurman and then Gattaca.

   I think this might induce unfair predispositions in life and possibly lead to self-fulfilling prophecies. It takes the mystery out of life. I’m concerned somewhat, too, but it’s hard to argue with preventive care.

4. C187
   

   November 17th, 2007 at 4:02 am

   Maybe I’m looking at this from another angle. One of my good friends was adopted. She doesn’t know who her biological parents are. She has no idea of her biological family history. A few months ago she had a scare with a routine test. Thankfully the other tests showed that everything was fine. But the fact that she has no clue about what she could be open to getting down the road. Has been bugging her. She’s only in her 20s, so she has a long road a head of her.

   This test would help her find out what to watch out for. It could be a map for her. But by no means a guide to how to live her life.

5. Ness
   

   November 17th, 2007 at 4:18 am

   wow, you really want to know what diseases are you likely to have in the future? I don’t think so, it’s a softer version of knowing when you’re going to die. If you know you are likely to suffer from cancer, this will drive you paranoid about what you can eat, where you can’t stay because of the smoke, and a looong etc…

   Holy ignorance….

6. sam
   

   November 17th, 2007 at 4:29 am

   there are already people doing this so really sorry to burst your “I love all things google or facebook ” concept.

   http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7098998.stm

7. JJ
   

   November 17th, 2007 at 5:05 am

   The embedded video is no longer available.

8. Mike
   

   November 17th, 2007 at 5:09 am

   Wow! The first thing I thought of when I started reading your article was Gattaca. That movie, although not extremely popular unfortunately, had a massive impact on people’s concerns where this sort of technology is going.

   What alarms me is that currently it is just used for you to find out what problems you may have due to your genes. But it won’t be long until the technology is used to create more ‘perfect’ humans.

   It’s freaky.

9. Search◊ Engines Web
   

   November 17th, 2007 at 5:15 am

   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7053863.stm

   Some firms are also using this model to trace the ancestry of a person.

   Most non-adopted people should be able to deduce from their family’s history what illnesses are common. One wonders by the bad eating habits and the chances that some people take when driving, if they really want to live to get old.

   How many people get regular check-ups - even heavy smokers don’t?

10. Sebastian W.
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 5:33 am

    wow, a whole lot of fear mongering, reminds me of the way Bush and his gang used terror for his agenda. Seriously people, stop worrying about dying and focus on living.

    Go to their website, and it states “…9.4 out of 100 people with European ethnicity will get type 2 diabeties between the ages of 40 and 59…”
    Yeah, well that is great and dandy but the major reason for Type 2 Diabeties is obesity, and that is independant of the genes.

11. G
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 5:49 am

    Many others are already doing similar things - DeCode Genetics is just one of the companies - far ahead - in fact publicly traded. DCGN - NASDAQ.
    http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=DCGN

    A recent article in Forbes on the same subject -
    http://blogs.forbes.com/scienc.....ecode.html

12. nick of cebu
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 5:53 am

    Gattaca is a great, under-rated movie, and don’t forget Jude Law, whose performance was the best. Anyway, IMHO this company’s business model is a fraud, there is not yet enough data available to provide a useful report; it’s just probabilities, which are vague and don’t mean anything. You might as well go to a fortune teller.

13. digital-lifestyle
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 6:03 am

    Just wondering why Google has invested that much money on matrix like things- Bringing science fiction into reality.

14. Al
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 6:05 am

    Only a matter of time before health insurance companies start requiring your DNA results. This is just the beginning…

15. Owen
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 6:05 am

    We have 46 chromosomes. But I guess 46andMe does not rhyme very well so they went for the 23 chromosome PAIRS.

    “…forty six and two, just ahead of me…” - Tool

16. damon
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 7:03 am

    Hope this info does not reach the insurance company.

17. Chris R.
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 7:05 am

    “this is really cool idea.”

    I agree. I bet it wasn’t cheap to start up either.

18. great008
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 7:33 am

    Well it is party funded by Sergey Brin! Cofounder of Google!

    http://www.techfiends.com

19. Tim F
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 7:57 am

    I would get life insurance soon. Because insurance companies might make people take these tests. Even at a cost of $1000 it will still help the insurance companies make money.

20. sera
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 8:01 am

    first-person account

    That link does not work.

    Come on.

21. Dheeraj Sultanian
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 8:03 am

    Hey Duncan

    Can you touch on who actually OWNS the data once it is collected. 23andme is obviously subsidizing the cost of the test (a test like this normally costs upwards of $10,000) - I can’t imagine they are doing this for the benefit of society. Is the data portable, can it be taken off the site, what format is used, etc. These are important questions that should explored to further qualify the business plan.

    Furthermore, what is the error percentage - no test is perfect, and their methodology is not clear beyond “using a chip” - since there is no way to confirm results (no third party to perform a second test) - it is possible that a screw up will never be detected and someone can go their entire lives worried about something that will never really pan out.

    $999 is an attractive price point - to a billionaire - I am well off, but I don’t think I would pay that much - until the price comes down to around $100 this will not be mainstream. Most of the interesting science (for example, discovering a subset of the population that is immune to certain diseases and using that discovery to create medicines around the proteins coded for by that gene) require super large, even universal adoption of the technology.

22. Deepak
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 8:04 am

    I hope you are aware that 23andme is hardly the only company in this space. Navigenics, which is aligned with Affymetrix, the dominant microarray provider has already announced its offering (23andme is aligned with rival Illumina). DeCode, a pioneer in this field, has also announced a similar service. There are some smaller players as well.

    Don’t forget the genographic project as well. For genealogy, it’s been around for a while, without the cool web services model

    In other words, don’t look at 23andme in a vacuum.

    Sebastian … your genotype tells you abour your propensity to get a disease. Whether you get it or not is governed by other factors.

    This space is going to come under scrutiny though. Is your data portable from one provider to the other? Who owns it? Does HIPAA apply, etc etc.

23. Chris R.
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 8:24 am

    “$999 is an attractive price point - to a billionaire - I am well off, but I don’t think I would pay that much -”

    This is just a random one and I know there are cheaper ones, but people pay $399 or more for online STD lab testing. It’s been done for a few years now. This is one from AZ.
    http://shop.alltestsonline.com.....ry_Code=ID

    Of course it’s way cheaper just to go to the clinic, but apparently some people are paranoid and would rather pay. I’m sure this generic test can also be done cheaper by govt subsidizing clinics, but again, some people would rather do everything in secrecy.

    I’m sure it will be hugely successful. The same types of people that would want these tests are the same that can easily pay $999.

24. Richard Pryor
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 8:32 am

    The moral depravity of man will ensure that the results are used to harm people in the long run.

25. PookieBadMuffin
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 8:33 am

    “I’m not suggesting that Google is about to commence an index of the planet’s DNA…”

    Ok, I will!

26. gary gonzales
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 8:57 am

    Duncan Riley, this is the best story you have written since your tenure at Techcrunch. I applaud you.

    3.9 million for access to your dna history.. not a bad investment.

    Ok, imagine for a second that you combine this with data from facebook.com.

    at some point you would start to recieve ads for pain medication, insurance plans specifically targeted to you. wow this gets interesteing.

27. Chris R.
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 8:57 am

    “no one really knows why Google invested in the company aside from Brin’s marital relationship.”

    As if that’s not a good enough reason. The guy just had a jumbo jet purchased a year or so ago.

    http://searchengineland.com/070913-075208.php
    “The money quote from Eric Schmidt, who served as referee: “Sergey, you can have whatever bed you want in your room; Larry, you can have whatever kind of bed you want in your bedroom. Let’s move on.”"

    I’m sure 4 million wasn’t a problem for him at the board meeting. “does anybody dare to vote against this resolution?” me thinks.

28. TDavid
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 8:59 am

    I’m with others that will wait for the price to come down.

    For another $1,000 you can get the Google Mini. Might not tell you that someday you could get cancer, but it will index 50,000 documents about cancer or whatever topic of interest.

29. Steve Ballmer
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 9:00 am

    We already do this at employment screenings and rate it to insurance scales.

30. Chris R.
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 9:04 am

    “For another $1,000 you can get the Google Mini. Might not tell you that someday you could get cancer, but it will index 50,000 documents about cancer or whatever topic of interest.”

    That’s pathetic. Not you wanting one, the cost/work of the mini. Plus from my understanding it’s all binaries based on the GNU licensed kernel with no sources available. Sorry for the interjection.

31. Devn G
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 9:08 am

    Learn about the disease I may possibly die from. Oh I can’t wait. Why would you want to limit your dreams? Everyone is aware that they could die from any number of consequences. Of what use is to me to know that I might get Cancer when I am 40?

    The other part that made me laugh was that here is a seemingly professional company putting a price tag of $999 on their service. Just say $1000 we are not idiots.

32. EH
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 9:09 am

    So, this was thought up over a dinner the Brins had with Craig Venter? “If only there was a way to commodify DNA analysis…”

33. Chris
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 9:31 am

    “Wow, you really want to know what diseases are you likely to have in the future? I don’t think so, it’s a softer version of knowing when you’re going to die. If you know you are likely to suffer from cancer, this will drive you paranoid about what you can eat, where you can’t stay because of the smoke, and a looong etc…”

    Why do you think doctors ask for you family history? Do you refuse to answer those questions? It’s useful information for doctors and patients to know to help diagnose and prevent illnesses. This is just a (potentially) more accurate method to determine what you are susceptible to.

    “I would get life insurance soon. Because insurance companies might make people take these tests. Even at a cost of $1000 it will still help the insurance companies make money.”

    Unless of course you have “good” genes, in which case your insurance rates go down.

34. gregory
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 9:52 am

    ridiculous, is the short response …. the human genome project, to find the fundamental building blocks, etc, has only found a bunch of questions, with maybe the supposition starting to form that maybe they aren’t so deep into physical reality as they thought…. i.e they are still playing around in the land of effect, and are a loooong way from cause…

    now, who but the neurotic would… no, i won’t say that… it is just that the entire service that 23anMe is offering is useless except as a sort of kirlian photograph taken at some psychic fair, or a whole body cat scan from some traveling barker…

    now, about that back-door the government has had into google for quite some time now… this fits nicely with that…\

    science is the new religion, i know, but this is… back to the top

35. Leslie
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 10:00 am

    23andme has actually launched already. I just checked their website and you can already order. I am soooo tempted! I am really excited about 23andme. It sounds like they have a lot of cool ancestry tools and other fun stuff. And having the ability to check my SNPs whenever a new association study comes out would be great. Navigenics seems more focused on disease, and is set to cost $2500!

    I would not call Affymetrix “the dominant microarray provider” — Illumina’s market cap is currently almost twice that of Affymetrix. Good for Illumina! Their technology is much better, and the competition is forcing Affymetrix to remedy some design problems that should have been fixed long ago. deCODEme is also using Illumina.

36. Dheeraj Sultanian
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 10:07 am

    Read the TOS - some interesting things to keep in mind:

    “Your saliva, once submitted to and analyzed by us, becomes our property. Any genetic information derived from your saliva remains your information. We retain the rights set forth in the consent form and any additional terms of service.”

    Property vs. information - interesting legal minutia but basically means they own you - If they own the saliva, they own any further “art” of the saliva - including the genetic and source phenotype information.

    “You agree that this license includes a right for 23andMe to make such content available to other companies, organizations, or individuals with whom 23andMe has relationships, and to use such content in connection with the provision of those services.”

    Uh-oh

37. FakeMA
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 10:15 am

    http://www.indianweb2.com/ this site is a complete rip off of techcrunch… down to the placement of ads even lol

38. Paul
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 10:19 am

    “I’m sure we all want to know what diseases we might end up with in the future,”

    Obviously, you haven’t had this happen to you personally.

    I was diagnosed with a genetic issue when I was in my mid thirties, after my three kids were born. Unfortunately, genetic issues are not always a simple you have it or you don’t situation. They can result from multiple genes interacting to cause a whole range of severities. We do not yet know enough to assign probabilities to these ranges. It makes for some VERY difficult choices when it comes time to decide if you want to have a family.

39. Soren G
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 10:52 am

    Embedded video no longer working. . . .

40. Don Wilson
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 10:52 am

    Where in the world do I sign up?

41. sky
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 10:54 am

    Really useful app.

42. Eric
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 11:27 am

    I am very interested in these services and was very close to signing up for deCODEme yesterday until I had a thought that hadn’t occured to me before.

    What is the tradeoff between helpful information gained, and the anxiety that it will bring regarding one’s future health? I actually hesitated and stopped the ordering process because I realized this has the potential to give you information that would change your life forever (duh).

    I’m not sure I want that kind of information.

43. Antje Wilsch
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 11:38 am

    speaking of taking every living day as a gift rather than a right, reminds me I need to get off this computer and out into the real world…. later

44. Danny
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 12:08 pm

    GeneRank? Googleugenics?

    Someone invoke Godwin’s law, please…

45. Mark Brooks
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 12:16 pm

    I just signed up. $1009 with 3 day delivery.

    In 100 years time, people will be reasonably able to 500. I’m with Ray Kurzweil on this. (my girlfriend thinks I’m nuts however)

    Power to the Google family for having the vision to bring this kind of test to the masses. I want to know whatever information may be unravelable from my DNA. Results will be posted on my personal blog, seasonalparadise.com.

46. Ivo
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 12:32 pm

    Biotechnologies and the internet will eventually join and we will probably google people looking for their genetic info. Human beings are considered just another information system, forgetting that the informational level is just one of the many levels (or “bodies”) we have as human beings. But it’s too easy to consider the map as the territory. thinking that we are our genes. A couple of months before I wrote a post about this on http://www.indranet.org/biotec.....on-system/

47. David
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 1:14 pm

    There will be strong points in favor and against this test. It is and always has been a concern with personal information gathering. As usual, the test can be used for extremely useful information for doctor/patient decisions; and it can be grossly misused. It’s failure/success rating will depend on who is governing the test and information. It’s too early for me to speculate.

    What I hope can is that the medical community will be able to use the information to guide a person to better health and quality of life by avoiding genetic pitfalls. As well this can greatly reduce the cost of medical care and insurance paid.

    Of course, my ideas are intended for a perfect world, and I know we’re not there. I’d like to see this test routine so that everyone knows how to focus their habits.

    David

48. captain hook
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 1:22 pm

    regarding the suggestion that Google will commence an index of all DNA on teh planet. They’ve already said they intend to do this - it was reported in The Google Story by David Viser and they received a “captain Hook Award for Biopiracy” for these plans from a coalition of civil society watchdogs and indiginous groups…

    more info here

    http://www.captainhookawards.o.....006/google

49. Nikolay Kolev
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 2:05 pm

    I can foresee Google’s GeneAds coming to a gPhone near you in 2010…

50. Melissa
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 2:18 pm

    I just signed up too, and bought two as gifts for my parents. $1000 a pop is a bit painful, but there has been a lot of publicity (front page of the nyt), so I wanted to get my order in early to make sure I get it by christmas. I can’t wait to get my results back!

51. gman
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 3:57 pm

    I hate to point this out but Gattaca didn’t show anything that wasn’t already happening in the 1960s!!! Ethan Hawke’s character was trying out for the SPACE PROGRAM. You couldn’t get into the space program in the 1960s nor can you be an Airforce pilot without perfect health. So, in other words, Gattaca was a pointless movie.

    As for the topic at hand, it seems like you are confusing 2 ideas.

    #1) 23andme….is it cool or not that people can get info about their own DNA

    I think it is. It would be good to know that I have a high chance of getting a certain disease as then I can take preventative action. I don’t see how that can be construed as a negative in any way shape or form. Sheesh.

    #2) will info about DNA at some point be used against you. That is in no way related to 23andme.com. Health data is already used . “Do you smoke?” “Do you drink?” “How often” etc… This is just more info

52. Moe Glitz
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 4:11 pm

    $1000 for a test is too high. Can’t they do it for free and place relevant sponsored Ad Links against everyone’s online DNA results. These Ads could reflect your lifestyle and give you Sponsored Links to show you what you need to do to live a long and healthy life based upon your DNA results.

    But seriously who wants to give your DNA results to a Company that is closely associated with Google. Google already know everything about you online, so once they link your DNA to your online Google profile, in the future every time law enforcement agencies find strains of DNA at a crime scene, they will check if Google has any records of the owner of this DNA strain and if so, get a complete online profile of that particular person.
    Plus if that particular Google profile individual has gone missing then they can check out all of your OpenSocial friends and find out where you might be.

    This type of project sounds like a movie plot just waiting to happen

53. Steven MurphyMD
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 7:17 pm

    There is a reason why you cannot sign up for DeCODE’s services in NY, CT or CA. Direct to Consumer genetic testing is illegal. Why? Because HIPAA does not protect your health data if it is not obtained by a healthcare company. 23andME is not governed by HIPAA!!!! Who owns the saliva after you send it? Does their investor Google then own it? The answer…..You no longer own your saliva once it’s submitted!

    Scary when your testing is not guided by people who take an oath to protect you.

    -Steve
    http://www.thegenesherpa.blogspot.com
    http://www.helixhealth.org

54. wonkyeye
    

    November 17th, 2007 at 8:09 pm

    ^^^ Fail

55. Joe Duck
    

    November 18th, 2007 at 1:30 am

    Evil? Don’t be ridiculous. This service is not only cool, it’s inevitable. I’m glad the company is obviously doing this with a spirit of scientific cooperation, low cost, and fun.

56. GeneticsIsNotAJoke
    

    November 18th, 2007 at 3:18 am

    I do not completely believe in the information about telling you how to live so that you can avoid certain diseases. The truth of the matter is that the exact science to predict such things DOES NOT exits and such speculations could cause a lot of panic among a person’s life. What I mean is that there is no model which exists today, and predicts that if a person has a certain variant in his genome, he/she will get the disease in the future. Even if we assume that such a thing exists, i.e. if someone, somehow is able to test and tell you if you will get a disease in the future, NOTHING much can be done about it. The reason is simple: Pharama companies are not make PRE-Symptomatic drugs, i.e. they are only making drugs for diseases when you show symptoms of those diseases and almost nothing exists for you to take a drug, when you do not have the disease but might get it in the future. I believe such services by 23andme etc are just to increase panic in the world. Having said all this, it is definately a good service to offer, not now, but 10 years or so down the line, when you know exactly how these diseases are caused in the lifetime and when what can be done about them. I hope people really understand what they are doing before opting for such a service. If you have to get a disease in the future, it is better to enjoy your days in life till you get that disease, provided it is a disease for which nothing much can be done about it at this stage.

57. ogee
    

    November 18th, 2007 at 3:44 am

    I’m sure we all want to know what diseases we might end up with in the future, and in the development of human knowledge the accessibility of 23andMe’s product is a step forward

    i do not want to know what diseases i might end up with!!!

    23andMe’s product is a step backward!!!

    This is really babylon 2.0 bullshit…

58. Mark Radoff
    

    November 18th, 2007 at 4:17 am

    Yep, Gattaca. Well, we all knew this was coming. It’s just (big) step in refining selective breeding and class stratification. And the industries that can pop up around it will be huge. There will be big ethics debates in government, and countries with more liberal policies will get the business.

59. gisli haukur
    

    November 18th, 2007 at 4:43 am

    http://www.decodeme.com lunch last week for a similar price i think.

    they have been around for 7 years or someting are on the stockmarket DCCN i think.

60. leslie crammer
    

    November 18th, 2007 at 9:33 am

    Craig Venter was interviewed on Forum on Nov 9:
    http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R711091000

    He talks about how a single gene may be a marker for some condition or disease, but that it takes several genes working in concert to really make someone more likely to develop a condition or disease.

    He also says that environmental factors have a greater effect than genes in determining these rates.

    It’s nice that a genetic mapping is available to regular people (who can afford $1k) but I think we need to look at this closely and realize that if someone has the “cancer” gene or the “high blood pressure” gene, there may be many other genes in concert that we don’t yet understand that will cause a higher rate of something occurring, and that where someone lives, what they do and consume, whether they exercise and whether they have a sunny disposition that will predict rates.

    At the end of Forum, (-15:42s) someone called in to ask about startups like 23andme doing this kind of work, and he suggests the above issues will make it harder to control or identify effects based on a single gene. If you knock one gene out, you don’t remove the possibility of the disease, and the whole picture has to be analyzed to have any realistic chance of giving you good information. He thinks these services may only give a partial picture. And that genetic determinism is not accurate.

61. Alan Brown
    

    November 18th, 2007 at 1:54 pm

    Human beings have been able to tell who is genetically superior for a while now. In fact, we have evolved to do exactly that.

    So I highly doubt that building a machine that does that will some how change what we do with such judgments. There is already a hierarchy of desirability and this sort of testing will be one more way of stratifying society. Nothing new here really.

62. Bud
    

    November 18th, 2007 at 6:43 pm

    There’s a company http://www.knome.com in that says it will sequence your entire whole-genome (instead of a chip-scan). They don’t give a price on their site though, but it’s definately the “Holy Grail” where everyone will eventually get to… One thing I really liked about DeCodeMe’s offer VS 23andMe’s was the fact that DeCode said you could download your own copy of their gene chip scan. 23 seems to want to keep the databases to themselves….

63. JBL
    

    November 18th, 2007 at 8:25 pm

    Bud, I also heard about that service, it happens to be priced at over $300,000 (yes, that’s three hundred thousand dollars)

64. Q
    

    November 19th, 2007 at 10:13 am

    “Why do you think doctors ask for you family history? Do you refuse to answer those questions? It’s useful information for doctors and patients to know to help diagnose and prevent illnesses. This is just a (potentially) more accurate method to determine what you are susceptible to.”

    Several big problems with this:

    1. You misunderstand the importance of family history vis-a-vis genetics. This is not an alternative to FH. You do a FH. Say you have a FH that suggests you have a high risk of inherited breast or ovarian cancer. Then, and this assumes your doc knows how to take a proper FH (or has the time), knows how to interpret it, and knows what to do with it (and that’s all a long stretch), he or she should refer you to a specialist or genetic counselor. After further discussion, it may be suggested that you take a genetic test and you may decide to take the test or maybe not. Taking a BRCA test in the absence of a positive FH? Well, say it comes back and you have a mutation. What does it mean? You don’t have a FH so it’s meaning is probably indeterminate but your anxiety is through the roof. Lot’s of fun don’t you think?

    2. Most genetic information is of indeterminate meaning at the moment. Take it to a doctor and it will have no practical bearing on the care he or she provides. At least that should be the case. Worse case is that they take it as seriously as you do.

    3. Even when the genetic information is relatively well understood and may have a practical implication for the type of care you should receive, most doctors don’t understand it sufficiently and aren’t prepared to use it appropriately. Think most primary docs can take decent FHs and refer you for BRCA test counseling when it is appropriate? Read the literature and learn otherwise. And that’s a genetic test that’s been a round for a while, on which there has been lots of research, and for which there are even national guidelines.

    At best this is just genetics for fun and entertainment; at worst it’s a way to feed your worst anxieties and screw up your medical care.

65. ds
    

    November 19th, 2007 at 10:37 am

    DNA testing for purely Genetic Genealogy Purposes, as well as CCR5 to see if one may be protected from AIDS/HIV, is described here:

    http://www.dirkschweitzer.net/DNATests.html

66. Mr. Gunn
    

    November 19th, 2007 at 11:04 am

    People, DNA is not destiny. Insurance companies already profile your risk based on a whole variety of other predictors, such as job, location, credit score, what color you car is, how many vowels are in your name, and a whole bunch of other stuff, so this isn’t fundamentally different.

    Don’t forget that while this may show you have an increased risk of one or two diseases, it’s can also showing you a decreased risk for all the others they test for, so, if anything, it should reduce the cost of insurance.

    It won’t make insurance obsolete, because even if there’s a marker that indicates 100% certainty of developing some disease, it remains unknown and unknowable when the disease will develop.

67. hepsi bir dizisi
    

    November 20th, 2007 at 6:37 am

    I can foresee Google’s GeneAds

68. Dan
    

    November 24th, 2007 at 11:46 pm

    everyone shows predisposition to various diseases, it is a lot more meaningful when combined with family history and environmental conditions

69. Dave
    

    November 26th, 2007 at 10:39 pm

    I think this service is a great boost to the whole Genetics industry as such which has been frail for quite a while now inspite of lot of hype around. Whether or not this becomes a cool business for 23andme, it surely gives the necessary thrust to the other players like Decodeme. None of the company so far has thought of bringing Genetic services to the masses. IT is a great initiative from 23andme to do somehting revolutionary, no matter what the intentions.

    http://novate.wordpress.com/20.....uman-race/