Credit: iStockphoto
A couple of hundred dollars, a few drops of saliva and a stamped envelope is all it takes to get a rundown on your inherited risk of around a hundred more-or-less common conditions. You can place your order by Internet.
Business is booming even as some experts raise red flags about the tests, challenging their accuracy and questioning the wisdom of satisfying the growing hunger for intimate genetic knowledge.
Leading the pack of start-ups is California-based 23andMe, which offers "to help others take a bold, informed step toward self-knowledge".
Rival deCODEme, a subsidiary of Iceland firm deCODE, promises "the discovery of your genetic propensity for developing specific diseases and conditions". Navigenics in Redwood Shores, California says it can "help you live healthier, longer".
The business is called personalised genomics, and it is only now starting to deliver on a long-heralded promise. Within a decade, say its supporters, mapping one's complete genetic landscape will be as quick and common as a blood test for cholesterol.
Already today, women can check for a faulty variant of two genes, BRCA 1 or 2, that boosts the chance of getting breast cancer by 50 to 80 per cent.
Other tests scan for the likelihood of sexual dysfunction brought on by certain anti-depressants, or heightened odds of becoming obese, schizophrenic or diabetic.
Parents can scan for diseases in their children – even when they are barely-fertilised embryos.
Last week saw the birth of the first baby in Britain grown from an embryo screened to ensure it did not contain the same breast cancer-causing gene inherited by her mother.
Another test is designed to spot athletic potential, and help figure out if junior could be the next Usain Bolt or just an also-ran.
The kit, marketed in the U.S. by Atlas Sports Genetics, checks for either of two variants of the ACTN3 gene.
One gives rise to so-called "fast-twitch muscles" common among world-class sprinters, while the other produces the slow-twitch version found among endurance athletes.
Not all the genetic secrets waiting to be unlocked are critical – or even secret. A sweet tooth, wet ear wax, heightened sensitivity to bitter greens or a slightly porous memory are hardly life-altering discoveries.
