Gene Tests: Personalized Medicine in Your Mailbox
Aug 19th, 2002 • Posted in: TrendlinesLOS ANGELES
As genetic science advances, consumer marketing is keeping pace, with a growing number of companies touting tests designed to give you skin creams, meals, and medications custom-tailored to your genetic make-up.
The problem is, these tests just might be useless and illegal, regulators say, worrying about whether and how they should put the brakes on gene science gone mainstream, according to a report last week from the Los Angeles Times.
The tests in question offer a host of personalized do-it-from-home services — a heads-up on your likelihood to have breast cancer, or an analysis of which antidepressant would work best in your body, for example — that currently lack government oversight.
Some observers say such laxity may not be a problem because the tests often require a doctor’s follow-up to prove useful, according to the Times.
Others worry that the tests, which range in cost from hundreds to thousands of dollars, might be little more than data-rich placebos giving people a false sense of empowerment while weakening their pocketbooks.
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