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Purchase Your Personal Gene Map

Posted by timothy on from the priceless dept.

dstone writes "Craig Venter, Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2000 has a new hobby: collecting rich people's DNA. Millionaires are lining up to buy their personal gene maps for the cool price of USD$621,500. The process takes a week and you get some insight into your genetic mutations that may correlate with illnesses, cancers, Alzeimer's, etc. Venter is a high profile character in the genetic sequencing scene and the Human Genome Project. More info on him may be found here(1) , here(2), and here(3) . If you had the pocket change, would you give this man your business?"

10 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. Why so expensive? by Pupp3tM · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm sure it's not that easy to map someone's genes, but hundreds of thousands of dollars? They'd better tell me what kind of cancer I'll get, and when, for that much.

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    David Borowitz
    1. Re:Why so expensive? by Gerry+Gleason · · Score: 2, Insightful
      This makes me wonder if they will make the customers sign a release to giving Ventner access to statistical data within their genome. One question the completed Human Genome did not answer is how genes vary from person to person - and the only way to answer that question is to sequence lots of genomes. If Ventner can get others to pay for the work and then patent the results that would certainly be a good business move.

      Well, yes, this gets to the heart of the matter. Now that they have sequenced the whole thing for at least one human, the real interesting question is how it varies, and then of course how those variations relate to physical traits, diseases, resistence to disease, and so on. I'm sure they want access to the whole thing, not just the statistics. Once you have enough of them, you can start to map variations.

      One thing that I'm a little unclear on from the reports. Are they actually sequencing the whole thing, or just the sections that are parts of genes (i.e. code for proteins). I always understood it to be the former, including all the vast areas that do not code for anything (that they know of). I've always been curious to know if these areas code for other things.

      It's not such a stretch to immagine that these areas contain what we engineers would call "out of band" data that could relate to developmental sequencing or even generational memory (ok, maybe that's a stretch, but possible).

      Just by having the entire sequences of a large number of individuals would make some explorations of this data possible just as pure data. If you find out of band areas that are near identical in all people, that would be a strong indication that it codes for something important.

  2. Well. by RaboKrabekian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While this is neat and all, and it was an inevitable use of the technology - does this scream "Gattaca" to anyone else? How long before we're doing this for unborn fetuses, and aborting those with serious defects? Or choosing among the choicest embryos?

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  3. Be that as it may.. by fadeaway · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ..there's still no gene for fate.

  4. Top-secret information? by wmspringer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now here's something you don't want your insurance company getting their hands on....

    Increased risk of cancer? Sorry, not covered...

    Increased risk of alcoholism? Those driver's insurance premiums just doubled..

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    Twenties Retirement
  5. Re:Of course results may vary... by saskboy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think this would be one of the best investments a person could make. Too bad it will be all of rich people, which will skew the results of any statistics that could pop out of the research. All super rich people must have a gene or two that supplies an aggressive desire for money, and stupid gold digging mates.

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  6. I already own this... by stuffman64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why would I pay for something I already own?

    Sure, it would be nice to know in advance if I am susceptible to getting diabietes like my grandmother, or heart disease like most of my mother's side of the family. However, if I do all I can to be healthy (i.e., not eating junkfood while laying on my couch all day), there is a significantly less chance of my being afflicted by these ailments. Some things could not be prevented, but I already know I have them (depression, bad eyesight).

    If people spend their "pocket change" on this, they may be in for a suprise. They may find that they have the genes for an increased risk of myocardial infarctions (heart attack), but because they have neglected thier health, they may find it hard to change thier lifestyle to a more healthy one. Although many health-related problems cannot be avoided (for instance, Huntington's Disease, which usually doesn't show up untill your 30's), many diseases that you may be high-risk for can be prevented with a proper lifestyle.

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  7. Just wait 10 years.. by lunaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...and your employer (or insurance company, bank, credit bureau, department of motor vehicles, Department of Homeland Defense, etc.) will do it for you FOR FREE!

    With or without your permission.

    Perhaps by then someone will offer a service where you can pay your $600K to PREVENT everyone from getting your gene sequence...

  8. Ironically enough... by glwtta · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... he got paid to sequence his own. Go figure.

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    sic transit gloria mundi
  9. Anyone agree? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Meanwhile, there are a billion people with perfectly good genetics trying to stay alive on $6.21 a month. Do you know how much good you could do with a half million dollars in a third world country?