DNA tests grow more vital in hereditary breast cancer treatments. They also raise unanswerable questions.
By Sarah Elizabeth Richards,
Washington Post
| 03. 15. 2020
When Lisa DeAngelico found out she had Stage 4 breast cancer two years ago at age 47, she says one of the hardest parts about her diagnosis was telling her mother. That’s because her mother had already lost her sister and niece to the disease. They had hoped DeAngelico would be spared from the family curse.
So when DeAngelico’s doctor asked her whether she wanted to undergo DNA testing to better understand her family genetics, she agreed to offer a blood sample and meet with a genetic counselor.
“I hoped that if it did tell me I had a gene, I could tell others in my family that they should get tested early,” says DeAngelico, a hospital administrative coordinator in East Boston.
Surgeons say all breast cancer patients should be offered genetic testing
Yet the results revealed more than a family connection. When her doctor learned that DeAngelico had a mutation in the BRCA2 gene, he explained she also had a risk of ovarian cancer and advised her to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed to prevent the cancer...
Related Articles
GeneWatch UK has prepared a briefing on the genetic modification of nature for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress in October 2025
The upcoming Congress claims to be “where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action.” A major concern for those on the outside is that the Congress may advance plans to develop and encourage the use of synthetic biology in nature conservation. This could at first glance sound like...
By Aaron Ginn, The Washington Post | 09.12.2025
Earlier this year, I had dinner in D.C. with Jensen Huang, the president and chief executive of Nvidia. At one point, he said something that struck me: “Why is everyone here so negative?”
He wasn’t referring to the economy...
By Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times | 08.25.2025
Scientists have dreamed for centuries about using animal organs to treat ailing humans. In recent years, those efforts have begun to bear fruit: Researchers have begun transplanting the hearts and kidneys of genetically modified pigs into patients, with varying degrees...
The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
CGS works to ensure that social justice, equity, human rights, and democratic governance are front...