Friday, August 13, 2010

Under Pressure, UC Berkeley Won't Tell Students Gene Test Results : Shots - Health News Blog : NPR

Under Pressure, UC Berkeley Won't Tell Students Gene Test Results
by SCOTT HENSLEY
In what struck us a little like one of those old Mickey Rooney movies where he organizes the neighborhood kids to put on a show, the University of California, Berkeley has a bold plan to convene a campus discussion about genetic testing by having incoming freshmen submit saliva samples for a DNA assay.

The genetic truth won't be set free for some college freshmen in California."We wanted to spark the interest of these students because, whether they like it or not, their genetic information will be used in their medical treatment in their future — and that future is only a few years a way," a university spokesman tells KQED's Sarah Varney.
Now, the plan is being trimmed back a bit.

Under pressure from state health regulators, the university won't