Genetic Testing Coming To a Drugstore Near You 110
Hugh Pickens writes "The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Walgreens is slated to begin selling genetic-testing kits priced from $20 to $30 apiece that can tell people whether they're likely to get breast cancer, Alzheimer's disease, become obese, or suffer from a range of other maladies. However, to get the results of various tests, shoppers will have to fork over an additional $79 for drug-response results, $179 for 'pre-pregnancy planning' results, $179 for health condition results, or $249 for a combination of the three. Pathway Genomics and other companies already offer such tests online, but Walgreens will be the first brick-and-mortar retailer to sell them. FDA spokeswoman Karen Riley says Pathway overstepped its bounds when it announced its plans to market the tests directly to the consumer at 6,000 of Walgreen's 7,500 stores and wants Pathway Genomics to submit data showing that its tests give accurate results. 'The claims have limitations based on existing science,' says Riley, 'and consumers should not be making important medical and lifestyle decisions based on these tests without first consulting a health-care professional.' Walgreen responded that FDA clearance is not required to sell the kit in its stores; and anyway, the drugstore chain already sells other diagnostic and testing products such as pregnancy tests, paternity tests, and drug tests."
Re:Pathway Genomics Agreement (Score:5, Interesting)
I think the biggest problem with your last comment is that it should be a good thing... if you are with someone "significant" who calls the whole thing off because of things like that, then you're much, much better off without them, surely? More dangerous would be something like you sending off a workmate's saliva to see if they have HIV and then using that information to force them out of a job, etc. That's the sort of casual mis-use that we *don't* need.
Re:people never change (Score:1, Interesting)
The idea of a rational basis for behaviour has been pretty effectively demolished by now, particularly by the fact that our brains are not computationally powerful enough to calculate perfect rational choices in all but the simplest possible situations. Rationality is mostly a post-hoc invention. i.e. you only think you're a rational being.
Anyway, the capacity to override biologically-determined behaviour also has a biological basis, so also has a genetic and/or epigenetic component.
You humans, always oversimplifying things!
Umm, yes (Score:4, Interesting)
Once you accept that she too is a human being, has a family, etc, and isn't there just as some accessory to your wellbeing -- a notion that sadly some nerds seem to have trouble understanding -- then, yes, it makes sense to worry about her work conditions too. Negotiate first. And I'm sure that if it happened once that you need her to stay some more, and it really is 10 minutes, you can agree to some compromise. If you need her to do several hours of overtime every day, now that's where I damn hope that the union has something to say.
Besides, I'm in a country where unions are everywhere (Germany) and contrary to the libertarian BS I hear from over the ocean, it didn't result in either bankruptcy or slavery yet. It also turns out that the unions aren't this evil thing hell-bent on causing disruption and preventing work getting done. Most of those people still want to work, it turns out. They don't want to be shafted, but that's a whole different issue.
More to the point, I'm not aware of any major union over here which flat out prohibits overtime and demans you exit the door on the exact minute. They might however ask for overtime pay. Especially if it happens regularly, and we're talking a lot more than 10 minutes.
But, again, once you realize that that nanny is a human being too, it might not be that hard to accept.
First of all, it's a non-sequitur, since I was talking about genetic testing. If you need genetic testing to realize that your barber is black, you have bigger problems :p
Second, even as one of those "but the employer has to discriminate because the customers might" excuses, it's a dumb one in this case. If you need a genetic test to determine something about an employee, then rest assured that the customers don't know that. If there was some big "I'm at risk of alzheimer's" sign on the guy's forehead to supposedly warn the customers off, you wouldn't need genetic testing to determine that in the first place.
Third, I'm not aware of anyone anywhere who was actually sued for switching a pizza shop or barber. Care to point out any actual cases? Or is it one of those BS over-the-top slippery-slope scenarios that some people seem to need to make their case for why shafting others should be ok?
Fourth, if you'd actually switch a shop because that barber has cancer (it's not contagious, you know?) or because genetic testing has found he's at slightly higher risk of Alzheimer's (ditto, you're not bacteria, you can't just absorb his deffective genes), then you're simply put a complete idiot. Genetic diseases are always non-contagious. It doesn't care if that guy shaved your beard, or handled the dough in your pizza, or even is your lover, you can't become infected with his genes or anything. We may not send the anti-discrimination authorities after you, but don't expect much support or respect there.