DNA testing to predict health
Discussion
Not tried it but all the big medical insurance companies are developing this big time as a tool to calculate premiums, whilst the DoH is also very interested, albeit for developing predictive models of care.
Currently GE Medical are market leaders in this and they are investing billions in being 1st to market with a global product
Currently GE Medical are market leaders in this and they are investing billions in being 1st to market with a global product
I think this needs to be handled very carefully. Under the tutelage of the NHS IMO it would be an excellent idea. Bring private doctors and health insurance into it though and you create the 'uninsurable underclass'.
I think it would be a good thing to know what amount of exercise is good for you, what foods are best, what you are allergic to etc, without having to find out the hard way. Best of all perhaps, it could be used to avoid addiction problems - would an alcoholic start drinking regularly if he or she knew that it would lead to a debilitating addiction. Also, these people who say 'I know someone who smoked all their life and they lived to a ripe old age' and so on would know exactly who they were.
This IS better off in the hands of a state institution.
I think it would be a good thing to know what amount of exercise is good for you, what foods are best, what you are allergic to etc, without having to find out the hard way. Best of all perhaps, it could be used to avoid addiction problems - would an alcoholic start drinking regularly if he or she knew that it would lead to a debilitating addiction. Also, these people who say 'I know someone who smoked all their life and they lived to a ripe old age' and so on would know exactly who they were.
This IS better off in the hands of a state institution.
Julian,
I can see the advantages in providing accurate interventions to avoid treatable conditions, but where would it lead ?
Would employers check your potential working lifespan before investing in you ? Would you test your future wife against illness, and would she check the quality of your spunk ?
Seems like there are some good advantages but blimey, what a Pandora's box.
I can see the advantages in providing accurate interventions to avoid treatable conditions, but where would it lead ?
Would employers check your potential working lifespan before investing in you ? Would you test your future wife against illness, and would she check the quality of your spunk ?
Seems like there are some good advantages but blimey, what a Pandora's box.
BliarOut said:
Has very nasty ramifications.... It could well lead to an uninsurable underclass. I thought that was the idea of insurance. Once the insurance company knows, they are going to cream it in.
Personally, I would rather not know.
You'd rather not know that not eating eggs (for example) would reduce your risk of heart disease because you are genetically predisposed to having high colesterol retention?
I'm in favour of having the choice to know or not know but, as others point out, the dangers of abuse by insurance companies is huge.
Insurance companies already use medicals to assess risk but that only detects problems, this would penalise people for things that they can't control and that may not happen. Very dangerous indeed. Unless I have good genes and can benefit from reduced premiums!
The cynic in me believes that the companies would put up premiums for 'bad genes' but not lower them for good ones!
Iain
v8thunder said:
I think this needs to be handled very carefully. Under the tutelage of the NHS IMO it would be an excellent idea. Bring private doctors and health insurance into it though and you create the 'uninsurable underclass'.
No, they would just pay more as they're at higher risk. Just like car insurance: we all pay different rates according to our profile.
Insurance companies are a law unto themselves, and don't require accurate info in order to be sneaky.
Let me give you an example.
On almost every insurance medical form I fill in is a recurring question.
Has the insured every had an HIV test?
Notice that nowhere does it ask whether the test is positive or negative. Answers on a postcard as to why they ask the oblique question?
A verbal pat on the back for anyone who can think down to their level and answer correctly.
Let me give you an example.
On almost every insurance medical form I fill in is a recurring question.
Has the insured every had an HIV test?
Notice that nowhere does it ask whether the test is positive or negative. Answers on a postcard as to why they ask the oblique question?
A verbal pat on the back for anyone who can think down to their level and answer correctly.
simpo two said:
I think this needs to be handled very carefully. Under the tutelage of the NHS IMO it would be an excellent idea. Bring private doctors and health insurance into it though and you create the 'uninsurable underclass'.
No, they would just pay more as they're at higher risk. Just like car insurance: we all pay different rates according to our profile.
Like I said, take the issue of insurance out of it and do it through the NHS, then there's none of that involved.
Julian64 said:
Insurance companies are a law unto themselves, and don't require accurate info in order to be sneaky.
Let me give you an example.
On almost every insurance medical form I fill in is a recurring question.
Has the insured every had an HIV test?
Notice that nowhere does it ask whether the test is positive or negative. Answers on a postcard as to why they ask the oblique question?
A verbal pat on the back for anyone who can think down to their level and answer correctly.
LIFESTYLE.
If you've taken the test, you believe your lifestyle exposes you to this risk.
Julian64 said:
Insurance companies are a law unto themselves, and don't require accurate info in order to be sneaky.
Let me give you an example.
On almost every insurance medical form I fill in is a recurring question.
Has the insured every had an HIV test?
Notice that nowhere does it ask whether the test is positive or negative. Answers on a postcard as to why they ask the oblique question?
It's a lifestyle question... If you think you are the sort of person who needs to take one, you are a high risk person. (Insurance thinking, not mine)
A verbal pat on the back for anyone who can think down to their level and answer correctly.
bor said:
Insurance companies are a law unto themselves, and don't require accurate info in order to be sneaky.
Let me give you an example.
On almost every insurance medical form I fill in is a recurring question.
Has the insured every had an HIV test?
Notice that nowhere does it ask whether the test is positive or negative. Answers on a postcard as to why they ask the oblique question?
A verbal pat on the back for anyone who can think down to their level and answer correctly.
LIFESTYLE.
If you've taken the test, you believe your lifestyle exposes you to this risk.
Sad, but true. Sadder, that if someone comes in to ask me for an HIV test, I put my pen down, listen, and then have to explain why I think they should go to the local STD clinic rather than get it done through me. That is, of course, if they ever want to get a mortgage in their lives.
I thought that the "Human genome" was pretty incomplete so far and so giving a sample of your DNA is unlikely to allow 'them' to give you 100% correct results. As a cynic, I expect that you have to fill in other detail which would allow them to give you some generic 'fortune teller' ballpark figures and use the results for their own research. If this service was available and 100% accurate, it would be in the news NOW.
There is also the issue of finding out something horrible and unfixable. Like Huntingdons Chorea, etc. Personally, I believe that my genetic property is my own and refuse to give it to anyone (apart from my bird
) The information stored in my genetic code should be in my full control of it's deployment.
There were rumblings about UK cops taking DNA samples and I swear to god, I would go to court to defend the rights of my genetic fingerprint.
DNA testing won't stop you getting shot/hit by a bus/etc.
Whilst, I agree with creating monsters and research on stem cells, cloning, etc is valuable scientific knowledge. People should not open Pandoras box of their own Genetic information, unless it is deemed a good idea (fair probability of having something horrid). I suppose, we will see cases of "Man sues Genome company for them telling him information he decided was a bad idea afterwards"......
Only in America. Fancy getting your pet cloned?
There is also the issue of finding out something horrible and unfixable. Like Huntingdons Chorea, etc. Personally, I believe that my genetic property is my own and refuse to give it to anyone (apart from my bird
) The information stored in my genetic code should be in my full control of it's deployment. There were rumblings about UK cops taking DNA samples and I swear to god, I would go to court to defend the rights of my genetic fingerprint.
DNA testing won't stop you getting shot/hit by a bus/etc.
Whilst, I agree with creating monsters and research on stem cells, cloning, etc is valuable scientific knowledge. People should not open Pandoras box of their own Genetic information, unless it is deemed a good idea (fair probability of having something horrid). I suppose, we will see cases of "Man sues Genome company for them telling him information he decided was a bad idea afterwards"......
Only in America. Fancy getting your pet cloned?
love machine said:
There were rumblings about UK cops taking DNA samples and I swear to god, I would go to court to defend the rights of my genetic fingerprint.
We already take DNA samples from people arrested / charged for certain offences, even though the offences are expanding, we can take dna from shoplifters, burglars, people involved in assaults and many more now.
Gareth
^Slider^ said:
There were rumblings about UK cops taking DNA samples and I swear to god, I would go to court to defend the rights of my genetic fingerprint.
We already take DNA samples from people arrested / charged for certain offences, even though the offences are expanding, we can take dna from shoplifters, burglars, people involved in assaults and many more now.
Gareth
But that just uses it as an identity, a set of smudges on chromatography. It isn't being used for genetic typing surely?
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