Don't expectorate too much

Photo contributed by Bill Webb Heyward Robinson and Joanna Mountain

A California company, 23andME, staged a presentation at Still Hopes on Friday, January 2, to an audience of about 50 with a rough mix of half visitors and half residents. The message, though, was wholly new. The company's business plan includes world- wide solicitations for saliva and money in exchange for DNA analyses.

As 23andMe's brochure puts it, "Get the latest on your DNA with $399 and a tube of saliva."

The presentation was by Columbia's Heyward Robinson, who lives in California, and his wife, scientist Joanna Mountain. Robinson's mother is Susan Robinson, a Still Hopes resident.

A human body contains 50 trillion cells, and almost every one of the cells contains the complete set of instructions for making the body. The instructions are encoded in the DNA, a long ladder- shaped molecule. Each rung on the ladder is made up of a pair of interlocking units, called bases, that are designated by the four letters in the DNA alphabet: A, T, G, and C. "A" always pairs with with "T", and "G" always pairs with "C".

The long molecules of DNA in the cells are organized into pieces called chromosomes, and humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, as in 23andMe. Chromosomes are further organized into short segments of DNA called genes.

Written in the DNA alphabet - A, T, C, and G - the genes tell the cells how to function and what traits to express.

A 23andMe DNA analysis can tell the customer the likelihood of type 1 diabetes, macular degeneration, and even rare recessive genetic diseases that show up early in life. To nail the last one, the DNA analysis must be performed early, very early, to predict the childhood occurance.

But to predict a childhood occurance is to challenge the ethics connected to such a determination. Should the child be told?

Another major and pragmatic issue is raised with DNA testing for the masses. Has another $399 been tacked on to the cost of an engagement or a marriage? In other words, for the same reasons pre- married couples take blood tests, an investment in DNA testing might reveal incompatibility or non- paternity. It's possible the results from DNA testing could tell the couple not to marry or not to have children at all.

To buy a DNA analysis, the customer orders a test kit from 23andMe.com, the company's online store, for $399. The kit arrives with a test tube that has a funnel opening at the top. The customer spits into the test tube, seals it, and sends it to 23andMe. And 23andMe's certified lab analyzes the customer's DNA in six to eight weeks.

The results are fully disclosed on a secure Web site.

To quote the promo pitch from 23andMe.com:

• Discover how your genes influence your health and traits. Get your data on over 90 traits and diseases with more topics added every month.

• See your personal history through a new lens with high- resolution maternal and paternal lineage, ancestry painting, and similarity to various global populations.

• 23andMe is the leader in giving you secure, simple options to share your genetic information with family and friends. See what you have in common and what makes you unique. You can also post stories and questions for other members of the 23andMe community.

• For the first time, anyone can help advance research by participating in our research program, 23andMe. Through online surveys that simultaneously collect scientific data and enhance the experience for our customers, 23andMe is designed to reveal the genetic basis of disease and contribute to making personalized medicine a reality.

• The safety of your data is our priority. Your personalized 23andMe Web account provides secure and easy access to your information with multiple levels of encryption and security protocols protecting your personal information. You may also download and save your raw genome data to your computer.

In the Eisenhower- era play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, leading man George, a tenured liberal arts professor married to the college president's daughter Martha, is scared to death of the future, worrying himself sick over what the scientists have in mind. George and Martha have lost their pioneering spirit. George couldn't handle hearing about 23andMe.

But the rest of the world better get ready. This is the future for all of us.