CGS-authored
When the University of California at Berkeley announced a project that asks incoming freshmen for the fall of 2010 to voluntarily submit their DNA for genetic testing, the plan quickly garnered national attention and generated heated debate. The New York Times carried its account in the May 19 issue-and within 24 hours the Center for Genetics and Society (on the West Coast) and the Council for Responsible Genetics (on the East Coast) called for a halt to the project.
One of the plan's sponsors, Mark Schlissel, Berkeley's dean of biological sciences, said he has been surprised by the furor and negative response from some quarters. Schlissel noted that the project had been cleared by the campus institutional review board that assesses risks and benefits to human subjects. After having their DNA analyzed, the incoming students would be given information about three areas of their genetic code that would inform them of their tolerance for alcohol, lactose (in milk), and possible need for folic acid (in leafy greens). The Web site announcing the project proudly proclaimed that "the information Berkeley students...
One of the plan's sponsors, Mark Schlissel, Berkeley's dean of biological sciences, said he has been surprised by the furor and negative response from some quarters. Schlissel noted that the project had been cleared by the campus institutional review board that assesses risks and benefits to human subjects. After having their DNA analyzed, the incoming students would be given information about three areas of their genetic code that would inform them of their tolerance for alcohol, lactose (in milk), and possible need for folic acid (in leafy greens). The Web site announcing the project proudly proclaimed that "the information Berkeley students...