The lack of response by consumers to their genetic tests, as reported
by John Tierney, is disconcerting. Rather than signifying admirable
levelheadedness, the fact that people neither worried about results
nor were spurred to take up preventive measures suggests that the
general public has yet to become sufficiently engaged in genetic
information to the extent hoped for by the genetic testing industry --
or to the extent necessary to make testing effective on a large-scale.
It is also symptomatic of the public's general disengagement from
numerical and statistical findings.
Dov Greenbaum, JD PhD
Mark Gerstein, PhD
Unpublished letter in response to
John Tierney's "Heavy Doses of DNA Data, With Few Side Effects"
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/science/18tier.html
NY TIMES 1/17/20
Similar post in response to
Eryn Brown's "Genetic testing doesn't spook patients, study finds"
LA TIMES (1/16/2011)
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/16/health/la-he-dtc-gene-tests-20110113
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