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DNA Helix

I don’t want a 23andMe — I want the real genetic tests

September 20th, 2008 by Kevin Fischer

Our friendly government lists some available genetic tests: these are the real deal, high penetrance tests for things you already have or conditions you will get.

Unlike Sergey Brin, I don’t particularly care about a mutation that gives me a slightly increased risk for a disease. That’s not significant, though if the placebo effect of a 23andMe test gets you to exercise more, congratulations.

However, if I knew I was bound to get Huntington’s Disease, I would really live my life differently with the moral superiority provided by knowing that my time on this earth was sadly limited by my genetics. I would just take things so much more seriously than all those suckers blissfully unaware of the cold, cruel nature of reality.

For now, it’s prohibitively expensive to get every single genetic test. With how much I would have to spend today to get 50 patented tests I would be better off waiting a year and getting my genome sequenced, then analyzing the data myself to (illegally?) check for every high penetrance mutation.

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Tags: 23andme

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    September 23, 2008 @ 4:05 pm

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