In his November 26th post "AfricanDNA.com - A New Genetic Genealogy Company", Blaine Bettinger of The Genetic Genealogist reviews a new genetic test and genealogy information provider. The venture (launched by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.--an esteemed literary critic and the director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, but not a geneticist) was also the subject of an article by Ron Nixon in The New York Times ("DNA Tests Find Branches but Few Roots", 25 November 2007). In this article Dixon quotes NYU sociologist and former advisor to the Human Genome Project, Troy Duster:
“People are making life-changing decisions based on these tests and may not be aware of the limitations .... While I don’t think any of the companies are deliberately misleading customers, they may have a financial incentive to tell people what they want to hear.”
Bettinger takes issue with the comment and asks: "Do people really make 'life-changing' decisions based upon the results of a genetic genealogy test?" He adds "So, what type of decisions are being referred to, and how often are people really making them?" A quick look at Duster's co-authored editorial in Science (19 October 2007) suggests that these decisions include potentially unexpected and sometimes distressing changes in personal identity, changes in self-reported ethnicity, and the selective financial support of African communities. While Duster's comment was made in the context of a discussion of genetic genealogy testing, he may have also had other genetic testing applications in mind or, perhaps, the unwarranted reification of race in genetic research. [See Duster's "Race and reification in science". Science 2005 Feb 18;307(5712):1050-1.]
Although some individuals (for better or for worse) may make "life-changing" decisions following the receipt of genetic genealogy test results, many more are expected to make these decisions following medical genetic tests. Bettinger's question, however, deserves attention here as well: Do people really make "life-changing" decisions based upon the results of a broad genetic test for uncertain health risks? Many individuals requesting a test for specific genetic disorders (Huntington Disease, for example) do make some life-changing decisions based upon the results, but how will individuals interpret increases in risks for more common health conditions? Heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis? Many of us already know that we have a family history of one or more these (and other) diseases, but how many of us successfully respond to this information. Will the results of a genetic test provide better motivation to change our lifestyles? How many of us expect to jog more than we blog? -- J.O.
Citations:
Bolnick DA, Fullwiley D, Duster T, and et al. The science and business of genetic ancestry testing. Science. 2007 Oct 19;318(5849):399-400.
PubMed ID: 17947567 | PredictER CiteULike [excerpt]
Duster T. Race and reification in science. Science. 2005 Feb 18;307(5712):1050-1.
PubMed ID: 15718453 | PredictER CiteULike [excerpt]
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