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You are in Human Genetics → Genes and Health

Genes and Health

Is genetic testing good for health? Will gene therapy one day correct our faulty genes and eliminate disease? Some genetic tests can be useful, but genes are poor predictors of common diseases in most people. Read about the limitations of a genetic approach to our health problems.

Read GeneWatch UK's report Polygenic risk predictions: health revolution or going round in circles?.

Read GeneWatch's history of the claims that everyone should have their genome sequenced to allow common diseases to be predicted and prevented.

Recent Articles

• Wallace HM (2009) Genetic Screening for Susceptibility to Disease.
  

  A peer reviewed paper, summarising why genes give poor predictions of complex diseases. The link is to the abstract only. Contact us if you would like a copy of the full paper.

• in Press articles
  The Telegraph: Genetic 'magic bullet' cures have proven a 'false dawn' (21st April 2009)
  

• GeneWatch PR: Twins study obesity claims irresponsible, says GeneWatch UK
  7th February 2008

• in Articles and other external links
  Scientific paper by GeneWatch's HM Wallace
  

  This scientific paper looks at how data from twins and families is analysed. It concludes that the usual method is likely to exaggerate the importance of genetic differences in common diseases such as cancer. Breast cancer, for example, could often run in families because family members are exposed to the same environmental or lifestyle factors, rather than because relatives share some of their genes. If so, expensive research studies may be looking for "susceptibility genes" which do not exist or will be impossible to find.

Resources

• External links
  • Bioscience Resource Project: Human Genetic Predispositions

  • PLoS Blogs: A Challenge to the Supremacy of DNA as the Genetic Material (20th March 2014)

  • Caulfield et al (2014) A review of the key issues associated with the commercialization of biobanks

  • PACITA project: future panel on public health genomics (February 2014)

  • Eurogentest: Genetic Tests for Health Purposes (3rd December 2012)

• Press articles
  • Mad in America: Genetics May Predict About 0.5% of "Schizophrenia" (10th August 2020)

  • Nautilus: It's the End of the Gene As We Know It (3rd January 2019)

  • Medical Xpress: Family tree of 400 million people shows genetics has limited influence on longevity (6th November 2018)

  • The Scientist: Lifespan Less Heritable than Previously Thought (6th November 2018)

  • STAT: Life span has little to do with genes, analysis of large ancestry database shows (6th November 2016)

  • The Atlantic: What If (Almost) Every Gene Affects (Almost) Everything? (16th June 2017)

  • The Atlantic: Genes Are Overrated (June 2016)

  • Buzz Feed: Weighing The Promises Of Big Genomics (21st May 2015)

  • The Telegraph: Most cancers are caused by bad luck not genes or lifestyle, say scientists (1st January 2015)

  • The Wall Street Journal: Genetic Testing Leaves More Patients Living in Limbo (20th November 2013)

  • CounterPunch: Political Paralysis and the Genetics Agenda (8th August 2013)

  • The Telegraph: Where is genetic testing taking us? (19th May 2013)

  • Bloomberg: Faroes' 50,000 Residents Leap Into DNA Testing Quagmire (25th February 2013)

  • BusinessWeek: Genome Sequencing's Affordable, and Frightful, Future (16th February 2012)

  • PC Pro: You can't rewrite the human body like a computer program (8th February 2013)

  • ScienceNews: Depression gene search disappoints (16th January 2013)

  • Globe and Mail: We're overselling the health-care 'revolution' of personal genomics (14th December 2012)

  • WNYC: Genome Sequencing For Babies Brings Knowledge And Conflicts (3rd December 2012)

  • The Scientist: The Value of Your Genome (1st December 2012)

  • The Telegraph: Genetic screening of unborn babies 'may be inaccurate' (9th June 2012)

  • The Times [subscription needed]: Gene 'revolution' has stalled, says Winston (9th June 2012)

    IVF-pioneer Robert Winston described the hype about the human genome as "complete balls".

  • BBC: Genome of 18-week-old foetus deciphered (7th June 2012)

  • New York Times: Study Says DNA's Power to Predict Illness Is Limited (2nd April 2012)

  • Associated Press: Gene mapping for everyone? Study says not so fast (2nd April 2012)

  • Wall Street Journal: Study Questions Gene Mapping (2nd April 2012)

  • GEN: Moving Clinical Genomics Beyond the Hype (15th January 2012)

  • Huffington Post: Want to Lose Weight? Stop Looking For the Fat Gene (3rd January 2012)

  • GenomeWeb: Broad-Led Analysis Suggests Genetic Interactions Could Account for Substantial Portion of 'Missing Heritability' (3rd January 2012)

  • The Guardian: Mayo Clinic plans to sequence patients' genomes to personalise care (28th December 2011)

  • AFP: 'Longevity gene' may be dead end: study (21st September 2011)

• Reports
  • GeneWatch UK Report: Polygenic risk predictions: health revolution or going round in circles? (September 2023) 13th September 2023
  • Genetic Testing in the Workplace 31st May 2003
• Consultation responses
  • GeneWatch response to Nuffield consultation on Emerging Biotechnologies 20th June 2011
  • GeneWatch UK submission to the HGC consultation on direct-to-consumer genetic testing (4th December 2009) 4th December 2009
  • GeneWatch response to the Nuffield consultation on medical profiling (21st July 2009) 20th July 2009
  • GeneWatch response to the consultation on the Medical Devices Directives 3rd July 2008
  • Submission to House of Lords 'Genomic Medicine' Inquiry 20th April 2008

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Resources

• External links
• Press articles
• Reports
• Consultation responses

Topics

• Twin studies

  What do twin studies tell us about how important genes are for our health?