Aggregated News
In the almost year-long lead-up to having my whole genome sequenced, I have no fears about it. Or at least just a couple of tiny wobbles that I easily dismiss. I've gone through a rigorous, informed-consent process that has explained some of the conditions I may have, the predispositions to certain diseases that I may uncover. And I've signed the forms with a breezy it's-always-better-to-know attitude, tick, tick, tick.
Then, on the morning I'm due to get my results, at a genetics symposium in San Diego, I wake early, flick open my computer and read the news: banner headlines on every front page revealing Angelina Jolie's BRCA1 gene and her decision to have a double mastectomy. It's hard not to be a bit unnerved. I've always thought it better to have information than not have it, and that, anyway, you largely know from your family history what nasty diseases are floating around your gene pool.
"Not necessarily!" a geneticist called Bob Best cheerfully tells me at breakfast. The BRCA1 gene doesn't always show itself if it comes down your...
Then, on the morning I'm due to get my results, at a genetics symposium in San Diego, I wake early, flick open my computer and read the news: banner headlines on every front page revealing Angelina Jolie's BRCA1 gene and her decision to have a double mastectomy. It's hard not to be a bit unnerved. I've always thought it better to have information than not have it, and that, anyway, you largely know from your family history what nasty diseases are floating around your gene pool.
"Not necessarily!" a geneticist called Bob Best cheerfully tells me at breakfast. The BRCA1 gene doesn't always show itself if it comes down your...