Renowned Geneticist Analyzes Consumer DNA Tests 97
pdragon04 sends in the hardly surprising news that direct-to-consumer genetic testing isn't predicting diseases as well as they claim. "...[Francis] Collins, who played a central role in the Human Genome Project and is rumored to be the next head of the National Institutes of Health, announced at the Consumer Genetics Conference in Boston last week that he had had his genome analyzed [using a made-up name] by the big three of direct-to-consumer genetic testing: 23andMe, Navigenics, and DecodeMe. Collins said that sequence-wise, the tests 'appear to be highly accurate': there were almost no differences in the genotype information generated in the three different analyses. But there were significant differences in the numbers of genetic variations used to calculate disease risk, as well as the final risk score. ... For example, one company used 5 single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, to calculate risk for a particular disease, pronouncing Collins at low risk. Another used 10 SNPs, placing him at high risk, and the third used 15, concluding that he is at average risk."
Re:Francis Collins and "cdesign proponentism" (Score:5, Informative)
First, of all that's not accurate. Collins is pretty strongly against creationism in most of its forms, including classical young earth creationism and intelligent design. He is a variant of a theistic evolutionist with perhaps more of a notion of direct intervention by God than most theistic evolutionists. So describing him as you did is inaccurate.
Even if Collins views were not more moderate than you portray them, it wouldn't make his expertise any less. To use another example, I think that Noam Chomsky has a very strange ideas in his head about politics and how the media work. That doesn't mean I'm going to pay less attention to him when he talks about linguistics. Someone can have bad ideas in one area and still be an expert in another. Given his background, Collins clearly knows what he is talking about and is qualified to evaluate the products in question.
sequence once (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Francis Collins and "cdesign proponentism" (Score:0, Informative)
Fair enough, I was wrong. He doesn't think Jesus rode dinosaurs. He thinks God spoke to him in the form of a tripartite waterfall [salon.com].
That's what tenure is good for, I guess. It can make the difference between being appointed to the National Institutes of Health, or being sent to a padded room. Oh, wait, that's not tenure at all... it's religion.
Re:Why would you do this? (Score:5, Informative)
In the United States, discrimination on the basis of genetic information or the requesting, requiring, or purchasing of genetic information by any health care plan is prohibited by the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, passed by Congress in April 2008 and signed by President Bush the following month. Similarly, employers may not discriminate on the basis of genetic data, nor may they generally request nor require an employee to undergo genetic testing (there are a few very limited exceptions).
Basically, you can learn about your genome without worry that your insurance premiums will change, because with very limited exceptions, the insurers will never have access to it.
Re:Francis Collins and "cdesign proponentism" (Score:3, Informative)
You changed the spelling, and keeping the original spelling is the central point of using sic, so that the reader knows the error was in the original and not introduced by the quoter.
Re:Francis Collins and "cdesign proponentism" (Score:3, Informative)
Claims of Jesus's endorsement of piece and love doesn't give much comfort when he is only the SON of God. It's not like there would be any chance of him gaining the throne. It's documented how usurpers are handled after all.