A personal genetics test that was once being sold in the United States has been approved to start selling the same product in the UK. A Google-backed genetics company by the name of 23andme launched the personal test kit on Tuesday. What this test does is it makes you aware of certain diseases that you may be at risk for.
The product was selling originally in the US but the Food and Drug Administration forced the company to stop selling the product to prevent people from taking drastic measures because of a test result that could come back false positive or false negative. The FDA wanted to make sure that people who used the product were not rushing out to get surgeries to fix what this product may say about them.
The product has generated a bit of controversy because there still needs to be interaction between doctors and people using this product. The growing fear is that people will assume that because the test says you are at risk for a certain disease that it will be contracted somehow. The truth is you still need to see a doctor before trying to interpret the results on your own. "The results can indicate very slight alterations of risk for certain traits or diseases which can be misinterpreted unless explained in detail by a medical practitioner who understands such information.” said Shirley Hodgson of St. George Hospital in London.
It will be interesting to see the way this product sells in the UK. The Personal Genome Test will be sold for 125 pounds and will be available on Tuesday.
