Cracking and Protecting My Genetic Code

Cracking Your Genetic Code

Genetics has advanced to the point that it is inevitable that genotyping services will become commonplace and increasingly inexpensive, unless legislatures take action to limit the public's access to this information. Since genotyping services are essentially businesses catering to the public and providers of medical services, an issue about quality and the relevance of findings becomes important. Near the beginning of the Nova film Cracking Your Genetic Code, the filmmakers introduce the topic about whether the public should have access to their own genetic information without the need of getting a doctor's permission. There are obvious merits to this concern, especially in light of how customers will interpret the statistical results.

The dangers inherent to receiving genetic information in the form of probabilities are that a customer will not understand the significance of a result and will fall prey to...
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