Tempest in a spit cup
By Robert Sanders, Media relations | SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
BERKELEY — A controversial UC Berkeley program to analyze three genes in the DNA of incoming students culminates next week with a keynote address and the first of a series of panel discussions and lectures that will run through October.
Organizers and critics alike hope these events will spark a campus-wide discussion of the pros and cons of genetic testing and the promise or peril of personalized medicine.
A Sept. 13 lecture, “Looking for the Good News in Your Genome,” by campus geneticist Jasper Rine, will set the stage with a discussion of the promise new DNA technologies hold for improving human health.
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“There needed to be more teaching before testing,” said Kimberly Tallbear, an assistant professor of environmental science, policy and management who consults with indigenous peoples regarding genetic research. She compares the students to the indigenous tribes she works with, who are “trying not just to be recipients of syringes and cheek swabs, but who are actually participating in and even directing the research process, figuring out what the true research questions are for them.”
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