Genetic Fortune-Telling One day, babies will g...
Genetic Fortune-Telling
One day, babies will get DNA report cards at birth. These reports will offer predictions about their chances of suffering
a heart attack or cancer, of getting hooked on tobacco, and of being smarter than average.
Though the new DNA tests offer probabilities, not diagnoses, they could
greatly benefit medicine. For example,
if women at high risk for breast cancer got more mammograms and those at low
risk got fewer, those exams might catch more real cancers and set off fewer
false alarms. The trouble is, the predictions are far from perfect. What if
someone with a low risk score for cancer puts off being screened, and then
develops cancer anyway? Polygenic scores are also controversial because they
can predict any trait, not only diseases. For instance, they can now forecast
about 10 percent of a person’s performance on IQ tests. But how will parents
and educators use that information?
(Adaptado de Derek Brahney, Genetic Fortune-Telling. MIT Technology Review, Março/Abril 2018)
De acordo com o texto, um
dos riscos do prognóstico genético dos indivíduos desde o nascimento seria o de
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