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A comment on UC Berkeley Students Denied Genetic Test Results. Parent comment

Re:UC Berkeley Students Denied Genetic Test Results by carbocation on Sunday August 15, 2010 @10:40PM (#1606641)
I don't disagree with your points in the abstract. I could envision a highly logical society in which learning that you had prostate cancer didn't prompt an immediate desire to get that cancer treated.

Even then, why get the test at all if it won't change management? In other words, if you're not going to do anything differently based on a positive or negative test, the test is simply a waste of money, and potentially harmful.

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Re:UC Berkeley Students Denied Genetic Test Results by AngryParsley on Sunday August 15, 2010 @10:59PM (#1606671)
Even then, why get the test at all if it won't change management?

Well, quite a few genetic tests do change management (Warfarin sensitivity, antidepressant response, various differences in activity of various enzymes.), but I even want to know about test results that don't. I want to know if I have ApoE4 or some other gene that highly correlates with currently-incurable diseases. If I have a better idea of my life expectancy and my future quality of life, I can change my behavior today. I would live my life quite differently if I thought I my brain would rot in 20 years.

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