AOW_2_Gr1112_NGSSS The Retail DNA Test
Before meeting with Anne
Wojcicki, co-founder of a consumer
gene-testing service called 23andMe, I
know just three things about her: she's
pregnant, she's married to Google's
Sergey Brin, and she went to Yale. But
after an hour chatting with her in the
small office she shares with co-founder
Linda Avey at 23andMe's headquarters
in Mountain View, Calif., I know some
things no Internet search could reveal:
coffee makes her giddy, she has a
fondness for sequined shoes and freshbaked bread, and her unborn son has a
50% chance of inheriting a high risk for
Parkinson's disease.
Learning and sharing your genetic
secrets are at the heart of 23andMe's
controversial new service— a $399
saliva test that estimates your
predisposition for more than 90 traits
and conditions rangingfrom baldness to
blindness. Although 23andMe isn't the
only company selling DNA tests to the
public, it does the best job of making
them accessible and affordable. The
600,000 genetic markers that 23andMe
identifies and interprets for each
customer are "the digital manifestation
of you," says Wojcicki (pronounced Wojis-key), 35, who majored in biology and
was previously a health-care investor.
"It's all this information beyond what
you can see in the mirror."
We are at the beginning of a
personal-genomics revolution that will
transform not only how we take care of
ourselves but also what we mean by
personal information. In the past, only
élite researchers had access to their
genetic fingerprints, but now personal
genotyping is available to anyone who
orders the service online and mails in a
spit sample. Not everything about how
this information will be used is clear yet
— 23andMe has stirred up debate about
issues ranging from how meaningful the
results are to how to prevent genetic
discrimination — but the curtain has
been pulled back, and it can never be
closed again. And so for pioneering
retail genomics, 23andMe's DNA-testing
service is Time's 2008 Invention ofthe
Year.
The 1997 film Gattaca depicted it
as a futuristic nightmare, but humangenotyping has emerged instead as both
a real business and a status symbol.
Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein says he
is backing 23andMe not for its cinematic
possibilities but because "I think it is a
good investment. This is strictly medical
and business-like." Google has chipped
in almost half the $8.9 million in funding
raised by the firm, which counts Warren
Buffett, Rupert Murdoch and Ivanka
Trump among its clients.
Weinstein isn't saying what his test
told him, but Wojcicki and her famous
husband are perfectly willing to discuss
their own genetic flaws. Most worrisome
is a rare mutation that gives Brin an
estimated20% to 80% chance of getting
Parkinson's disease. There's a 50%
chance that the couple's child, due later
this year, will inherit that same gene. "I
don't find this embarrassing in any way,"
says Brin, who blogged about it in
September. "I felt it was a lot of work
and impractical to keep it secret, and I
think in 10 years it will be commonplace
to learn about your genome."
Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 12, 2011
1 AOW_2_Gr1112_NGSSS And yet while Wojcicki and Brin
aren't worried about genetic privacy,
others are. In May,President George W.
Bush signed a bill that makes it illegal
for employers and insurers to
discriminate on the basis of genetic
information. California and New York
tried to block the tests on the grounds
that they were not properly licensed, but
have so far been unsuccessful. Others
worry about how sharing one's genetic
data might affect close relatives who
would prefer not to let a family history
of schizophrenia or Lou Gehrig's disease
become public. And what if a potential
mate demands to see your genome
before getting serious? Such
hypotheticals are endless. And some
researchers argue that the tests are
flawed. "The uncertainty is too great,"
says Dr. Muin Khoury, director of the
National Office of Public Health
Genomics at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, who argues that
it is wrong to charge people for access to
such preliminary and incomplete data.
Many diseases stem from several
different genes and are triggered by
environmental factors. Since less than a
tenth of our 20,000 genes have been
correlated with any condition, it's
impossible to nail down exactly what
component is genetic. "A little
knowledge is a dangerous thing," says
Dr. Alan Guttmacher of the National
Institutes of Health.
23andMe is unfazed by its
detractors. "It's somewhat paternalistic
to say people shouldn't get these tests
because 'we don't want people to
misunderstand or get upset,'" says board
member Esther Dyson. There can be a
psychological upside too: some people
decide to lead healthier lifestyles. Brin is
currently funding Parkinson's research.
And not all customers' results are as
troubling as his. Nate Guy, 19, of
Warrenton, Va., was relieved that though
his uncle had died of prostate cancer, his
own risk for the disease was about
average. He even posted a video about it
on YouTube. And unflattering findings
can have a silver lining. "Now I have an
excuse for not remembering things,
because my memory is probably
genetically flawed," Guy says.
Wojcicki and Avey see themselves
not just as businesswomen but also as
social entrepreneurs. With their
customers' consent, they plan to amass
everyone's genetic footprint in a giant
database that can be mined for clues to
which mutations make us susceptible to
specific diseases and which drugs people
are more likely to respond to. "You're
donating your genetic information," says
Wojcicki. "We could make great
discoveries if we just had more
information. We all carry this
information, and if we bring it together
and democratize it, we could really
change health care."
Source: Anita Hamilton, Time, 10/27/08
Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 12, 2011
2 AOW_2_Gr1112_NGSSS The Retail DNA Test
1. Which pair of words from the passage is most similar in meaning?
a. Controversial, revolution
b. Pioneering, manifestation
c. Investment, funding
d. Inherit, impractical
2. Why did President Bush sign a bill making it illegal for companies to use
genetic information?
a. Insurance companies could use the information to make unfair
decisions about potential employees or patients seeking insurance.
b. The government doesn’t want the publics’ genetic information
becoming public information.
c. Many family members complained that their genetic diseases
would become public and they might be discriminated.
d. 23and Me is not a licensed company.
3. What can the reader conclude from the passage as positive benefits of
being genetically tested?
a. A person could use the results to prove to their boss that he or she
is a good employee.
b. They could identify possible predispositions to certain diseases or
illnesses.
c. People could compare themselves with other people to see who is
healthier.
d. People could use the results and cure all the possible diseases they
might have.
4. Read the following sentence from the passage.
“ but the curtain has been pulled back, and it can never be closed
again”
The sentence above is in reference to
a. The mystery of DNA testing has been revealed and people want to
explore it.
b. Too much information has become public about genetic
predispositions and people want the information to become private
Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 12, 2011
3 AOW_2_Gr1112_NGSSS c. The government is wants this service to stop because it is revealing
too much personal information.
d. The new information about genetic testing is affecting how people
will conduct their lives.
5. According to the passage, why would donating genetic material assist
23and me?
a. The company will post all of their findings on Google to assist
people in identifying their own genetic dispositions.
b. The company will make money by selling the results.
c. Brin will be able to make the result public and inform family
members of possible diseases
d. It would assist the company to change the health care system and
make new discoveries.
Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 12, 2011
4 AOW_2_Gr1112_NGSSS The Retail of DNA Answer Key
CCL
Answer
NGSSS
NGSSS
Moderate
1. C
LA.A.1112.1.6.9
Multiple meanings
Moderate
2. A
LA.A.1112.1.7.3
Main idea, summary statement,
Relevant details,
Conclusions/Inferences &
Predictions
Moderate
3. B
LA.A.1112.1.7.3
Main idea, summary statement,
Relevant details,
Conclusions/Inferences &
Predictions
Moderate
4. A
LA.A.1112.1.7.3
Main idea, summary statement,
Relevant details,
Conclusions/Inferences &
Predictions
Moderate
5. D
LA.A.1112.1.6.8
Analyze words and phrases
Word Relationships
Secondary Reading High School, Supplemental Articles 910, December 12, 2011
5