Postscript: a cautionary note

In the year 1902, Archibald Garrod made the first connection between a gene and a disease, alkaptoneuria. Today, over 6,000 single gene disorders are known and many genetic risk factors for complex diseases like type 2 diabetes and coronary disease and behavioral conditions like bipolar disease and schizophrenia have been identified. Direct-to-consumer gene-testing companies already provide information to potential disease gene carriers while also offering to assess genetic risk that a person will be susceptible to a complex condition like coronary disease. Even more personal genetic information will soon be on the way as genomic sequencing becomes so cheap that many people will decide to have their sequences read. ...

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