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DNA testing can reveal possible health risks. Is it worth knowing?
If you could use genetic testing to peer into your child’s future and get a glimpse of her likely health risks, would you do it? Many parents would, according to a new study.
Be warned though: you might not like what you see. Most genetic testing does not offer a clean bill of health. Most of us carry a genetic disposition towards some kind of large-scale health issues like heart disease and diabetes. Do you really want to know that your healthy, vibrant little kid is carrying a genetic predisposition for lung cancer? We may believe that knowledge is power, but researchers and policy makers warn that parents may not really be up for the truth about their kids’ genes.
Mom's blood sample could test baby DNA
A study released yesterday in the journal Science Translation Medicine gives us reason to think moms and dads may not have to use amniocentisis or CVS to test for genetic abnormalities in the future.
Amnio and CVS carry about a 1 percent risk of miscarriage and most couples don’t use the tests unless there is an increased risk of a genetic condition because of family history or factors like age.
But here’s how a mom’s blood sample – rather than amniotic fluid or tissue samples from the womb — could be used to test instead. And how, for a heafty fee, one couple figured out their child’s genetics without ever having to test the baby at all. Continue reading »
A recent study shows that a small majority of parents want to pull money out of their wallets and light it on fire. Not literally. But lighting money on fire would at least save a trip to Walgreens.
In a poll of nearly 1,500 parents, 53 percent said they would be interested in at-home genetic tests for their kids. These parents said they’d like to know whether their children are at an increased, average or low-risk for developing certain cancers and other diseases so that they might work on preventing them. But here’s the problem: those at-home tests? Totally bogus results. Continue reading »
Ever think about what happens to those tiny little blood samples nurses take after your baby is born? I sure didn’t. I was just happy to get it done and over with, because no new mama likes to see her brand new baby in pain — even if it’s just a little poke.
But that mandatory little poke is actually a really big deal. It screens for 29 genetic diseases, and it provides early diagnosis for 5,000 babies a year who need treatment.
When those samples are done being tested, they are sometimes stripped of any identifying information and stored. In certain cases, they’re used for research into issues like newborn screening and childhood cancers. But that discovery has some parents complaining that use of their baby’s blood is unethical.
It doesn’t take an etiquette expert to know asking for money as a gift is declasse. But when you’re fundraising for your fetus, it turns out the rules go out the window.
Tweet your yearning for a baby, and the money will pour in. At least that’s what happened for one couple who couldn’t fund their IVF. Continue reading »
Unlike a lot of people who deal with infertility, I had a diagnosis and an expectation that things would go not so well long before I was remotely interested in having kids. I was diagnosed with PCOS at age 23 and my wonderful primary care doctor was fairly nonchalant about the fact that when I did want to get pregnant, a little Clomid would do the trick.
It didn’t. But at least I was able to tell my now-husband that getting pregnant might not be so easy once things started getting serious, so neither of us were especially surprised when things didn’t go so well. Many of my friends who also faced down infertility said they envied me that, that I was able to tell my partner long before we were formally committed and let him decide if he was up for the challenges we might face.
A new genetic test might give a new group of women that chance. Continue reading »
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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