Heres an interesting op-ed by Harry Binswanger on the idea of getting your DNA tested, at a low cost, to find out if you have a genetic predisposition of getting a certain illness. The FDA is forbidding you from getting this information by shutting down this company. Getting this sort of test could be very important in prevention and maintenance, if you knew you had such a gene, you could take precautions and maybe even get it treated, before you actually got the disease. But the FDA is saying that type of knowledge in the hands of individuals is just too dangerous to let them know that. Just to give you an example of what this type of ruling will prevent in the near future, there is a new field of genetic research out there called epigenetics, where it has been discovered that having a gene per se does not necessarily mean you will get that illness. And the reason this is true is that each of your genes, to be effective, must be activated, usually by a chemical tag on them that turns them off or on. So, in effect, in the not too distant future, if we remain free enough, you could get a genetic test, find out you have a propensity to get a genetic illness, and have that gene de-activated! And the fact that so many people could get a DNA test cheaply, and be forewarned, could have driven the medical market to come up with these chemical markers, activators, or retardants, because there would be a high demand for them, once people knew their genetic code. But now, thats not going to happen, since it has all now been driven underground by the FDA. So, this is yet another case of the supposed protectors of your good health are preventing you from getting a cure for what ails you, because, you know, you just cant handle the truth.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 08:18:30 +0000
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