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Grace Wilsey couldn’t cry. As a baby, she would lie limp in her parents’ arms, staring blankly into the distance. Her seizures wouldn’t stop and medical tests showed signs of liver damage. This was all before her second birthday. Grace’s parents were beside themselves, as any parent would be. They traveled the country visiting specialists. They ran numerous tests, but no one could diagnose Grace’s condition. “We’ve probably seen over 100 doctors,” Grace’s father said in 2014 when Grace’s symptoms were discovered. None of them could provide an explanation. Then, when their daughter turned two years old, the Wilseys tried...

Millions of people have handed their DNA over to genetic testing companies like Ancestry or 23andMe to learn more about their family trees. But when you ship off your saliva, law enforcement could have access to your DNA. Police could use genetic information it gets from those companies to identify you in a criminal investigation, even if you’ve never used one of those services. Jacksonville resident Eric Yarham wanted to learn more about his family tree, so he mailed off his saliva to 23andMe. “Just trying to unravel the mystery that is your genetics,” said Yarham, who lives in the...

At-home DNA-testing company 23andMe is recruiting 25,000 people for a study to determine how genes influence brain functions in people diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorders. The Google-backed company's latest project is a collaboration with the Milken Institute, a medical research nonprofit, and Lundbeck, a drug developer, to study the genetics -- and also symptoms, behavior and other environmental factors --- associated with bipolar and major depressive disorders. In interviews with CNBC, the company describes its goal as finding out how genes influence brain processes, like attention and visual perception, for those with these conditions. 23andMe is currently recruiting 15,000...

The question can’t get more personal. Can you give up the rights to your DNA data? The answer is yes. And Larry Guernsey of San Jose knows firsthand. Family intrigue led Guernsey to buy his wife a DNA test kit from Ancestry DNA. “She’s always been interested in genealogy,” he said, noting that his wife had always wondered if she was part Indian. The $99 Ancestry DNA test Guernsey bought as a Christmas present uses a saliva sample to trace family history. “A simple test can reveal an estimate of your ethnic mix,” says the announcer in an Ancestry DNA...

Rather than roll back the Safeway Amendment, the House GOP is working to expand its reach. Per Stat News: A little-noticed bill moving through Congress would allow companies to require employees to undergo genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars, and would let employers see that genetic and other health information. Giving employers such power is now prohibited by legislation including the 2008 genetic privacy and nondiscrimination law known as GINA. The new bill gets around that landmark law by stating explicitly that GINA and other protections do not apply when genetic tests are part of...

House GOP would let employers demand workers' genetic test results https://www.statnews.com/2017/03/10/workplace-wellness-genetic-testing/ House Republicans would let employers demand workers’ genetic test results By Sharon Begley @sxbegle March 10, 2017 A little-noticed bill moving through Congress would allow companies to require employees to undergo genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars, and would let employers see that genetic and other health information. Giving employers such power is now prohibited by legislation including the 2008 genetic privacy and nondiscrimination law known as GINA. The new bill gets around that landmark law by stating explicitly that GINA and other protections do...

Say your employer wants you to get a genetic test. You politely decline because you consider it a gross infringement of privacy. Well, too bad—your monthly health insurance payments just spiked 30%. This could be the reality under HR 1313, the Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act, a House GOP-sponsored bill that would essentially allow companies with workplace wellness programs to demand your genetic information (or force you to pay a big penalty). The legislation has now passed a House committee on a straight party line vote, reports STAT News, with all 22 Republicans unified in support against 17 Democratic detractors....

It’s hard to imagine a more sensitive type of personal information than your own genetic blueprints. With varying degrees of accuracy, the four-base code can reveal bits of your family’s past, explain some of your current traits and health, and may provide a glimpse into your future with possible conditions and health problems you could face. And that information doesn’t just apply to you but potentially your blood relatives, too.Most people would likely want to keep the results of genetic tests highly guarded—if they want their genetic code deciphered at all. But, as STAT reports, a new bill that is...

A new study reveals that genetic manipulation of mice, rats, cows and pigs has increased threefold since 2004. Between 2004 and 2013, the number of tests conducted using genetically modified animals in Germany nearly tripled, according to reports by Funke Mediengruppe, citing a study by research group Testbiotech, which investigates the “consequences of genetic engineering”. In total nearly 950,000 animals, mainly mice and rats, were genetically tested in 2013 alone — one third of all animals on which scientific testing was conducted during that year in Germany. …

The Food and Drug Administration has ordered Google-backed genetic test maker 23andMe to halt sales of its personalized DNA test kits, saying the company has failed to show that the technology is supported by science.

<p>A white supremacist who has been trying to establish an all-white enclave in North Dakota got the shock of his life during the taping of NBCU’s “Trisha Show.”</p> <p>Host Trisha Goddard announced during her “Race in America” series that a test determining genetic ancestry revealed racist Craig Cobb’s genetic makeup is 86 percent European and a whole 14 percent sub-Saharan African.</p>

The $126 million genetic-testing company can tell you how to live smarter, better, and longer. It can also tell you what might kill you. You can purchase 14 gallons of organic milk or 396 lollipops. You can give her 33 rides on the Ferris wheel at the state fair, or you can get him a couple of violin lessons. You could put the money in a savings account, you could buy her her very own LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer digital learning tablet, or you could buy enough pizzas to feed all of her friends on the block. So many options, so...

<p>Imagine you and your spouse find out you're expecting. Having experienced this moment a few times, I know there's nothing quite like it. Your world changes, and within days, your child's entire biography unfolds in your mind: her first steps, first words, kindergarten, little league, ballet, high school, college, and eventually a young adult who will make you insanely proud. It's all so promising.</p>

A team has been able to predict the whole genetic code of a foetus by taking a blood sample from a woman who was 18 weeks pregnant, and a swab of saliva from the father. They believe that, in time, the test will become widely available, enabling doctors to screen unborn babies for some 3,500 genetic disorders. At the moment the only genetic disorder routinely tested for on the NHS is Down’s syndrome.

Maria Keller was pregnant with her fourth child when she visited her doctor for a routine ultrasound at 20 weeks and was confronted with a moment all mothers dread. Maria and her husband, Joe, suspected something was not quite right when the ultrasound technician suddenly became quiet as she caught the first glimpses of the couple’s unborn child on the ultrasound screen. Then the technician abruptly exited the room, leaving Joe and Maria waiting for a few tense minutes before they were called in to see the doctor, who met them with a distressed look on his face. The ultrasound...

The FDA's Genetic PaternalismStifling research, costing Americans more, and sending them into the black market — some likely consequences of overregulation Ever wonder why your hair is the color it is, where your remote ancestors resided, or whether you carry genes for diseases that could affect you or your children? As of today, it’s not possible to know all of that with certainty — not even close. But you can get a few answers by sending a saliva sample to a private company and paying it to analyze your DNA. Even better, as new research becomes available, you can check...

Technological advancements have afforded many benefits to the pro-life cause. Ultrasound imaging has revealed the child in the womb as a living, feeling human being, and at earlier stages than previously thought possible. The widespread use of such technology helps explain significant shifts towards the pro-life position -- both in sentiment and in deed, especially among young Americans -- over the last fifteen years. But medical technology has had some negative effects, too, especially for unborn babies with disabilities. Ultrasound imaging is routinely employed to discern genetic abnormalities in unborn children and to end the lives of those who fail...

I have alleles that suggest that I have a lower than average risk of suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Other alleles, however, indicate that I am slightly more likely to experience age-related macular degeneration than other people of European ancestry. In addition, if I need to use the blood thinner warfarin in the future, I should let my physician know that I have a version of the CYP2C9 gene, suggesting that I have a greater sensitivity to the drug and probably should start with a low dose. How do I know this genetic information? Because I paid for a direct-to-consumer genotype...

Should women be allowed access to a genetic test for breast cancer risk?Last week, the Icelandic company deCODE Genetics began offering a new breast cancer gene test that it claims measures genetic risk for the common forms of the disease. The new test assesses seven single-letter variations (a.k.a., single nucleotide polymorphisms) in the human genome that researchers have linked to higher risk of breast cancer. The average lifetime risk for women of European descent is 12 percent. The company claims that its new test can tell a woman if her lifetime risk of breast cancer is as low as 5...

Congress reached an agreement clearing the way for a bill to prohibit discrimination by employers and health insurers on the basis of genetic tests. Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican who had been almost single-handedly holding up action on the bill, said in an interview Tuesday that most of his concerns had been resolved and predicted that the bill would pass soon. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who is chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said a bipartisan agreement had been reached to move the bill to the Senate floor. Proponents say the new law, more than a dozen years in...