Last week, Dana was able to spend the morning visiting with 4 classes of 7th grade students at Brunswick Junior High School in Brunswick, Maine. Thank you to Sue Lamdin for the invite! We talked about the latest developments in personal genetics, direct-to-consumer testing, and we were able to spend some time talking about some of the ethical and personal issues, particularly the question of “Do I want to know about my DNA?”, and we talked a bit about who has the right to one’s genetic information – particularly young people’s information.
There were a few questions where we could have spend more time, and a couple of questions where Dana did not have an answer off the top of her head! Included are a few links for further reading and discussion. This was a very bright group of students with many great ideas, questions, and comments! Students, next time your family askes you “What did you learn at school today?”, maybe you could share this blog post or one of the articles and get the conversation going!
What’s Making Adam Sick? – A Time magazine article about genome testing and seeking an answer to a complex illness. There are many other excellent articles that are linked within this piece .
That odor in some people’s urine after eating asparagus…?
There were also a few questions about specific conditions. There are two excellent spots to go for information about diseases and conditions, and they have information for patients, families, as well as medical providers.
NIH’s Genetics Home Reference Guide and also the Centers for Disease Control.