A product of a $30 billion effort to sequence the human genome, the tests until recently have been limited to those wealthy enough to pay up to $10,000. But the tests have dropped to about $1,000.
Dr. Art Caplan, a professor of medical ethics at New York University, brought a host of provocative questions raised by the tests and their use in new treatments to Cooper University Medical School in Camden on Tuesday.
The inaugural speaker of the Berkowitz Family Foundation Lecture, Caplan dismissed most of the consumer-targeted versions of the genetic tests - those that claim to match diet and lifestyle to personal DNA - as "ethically worrisome" and "nonsense added to ridiculousness." Others, including 23andMe and DeCodeMe, are "more legitimate," he said.
Caplan, gregarious with a white mop of hair, also spoke about the developing field of pharmacogenomics, the study of prescribing drugs for patients based on their personal DNA.
"It's great, but it's still the early days," Caplan said.
Prenatal testing will drive most of the upcoming controversy, Caplan said.
"We can now test a mother's blood as soon as six or seven weeks into a pregnancy," he said. "That brings some big moral issues."
It's inevitable that the tests will be offered to all expectant mothers and become the standard of care, he said. They may be able to determine the gender of the fetus, whether the child will suffer from diseases, will be autistic, and indicate the likelihood that the child will be homosexual.
If a test indicates a chance of any of those conditions, will the information prompt expectant parents to abort a fetus?
"It will revolutionize how we think about prenatal care," Caplan said. "Gender is not a disease, and neither are other stigmatized conditions.
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Spitomics: The promise and perils of 'personalized' medicine