Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Pre-Natal Genetics Testing May Be Misleading

We've all heard about the wonders of pre-natal genetic testing/screening, right? The docs can tell you if the baby's "normal," and advise you that maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't carry the baby to term because of "problems."

Not really.


Using new technology to study the genomes of 270 volunteers from four corners of the world, researchers have found that while people do indeed inherit one chromosome from each parent, they do not necessarily inherit one gene from mom and another from dad.

One parent can pass down to a child three or more copies of a single gene. In some cases, people can inherit as many as eight or 10 copies. In rare instances a person might be missing a gene.


Yet despite these anomalies, they still appear to be healthy—countering the notion of what doctors have deemed “normal” in genetics.

Ooops. So sorry.

What? You aborted based on the word of the "experts"?

Oh.....

HT: DomBet

2 comments:

P.I. Mom said...

So true!! My best friend had a son last year. She did the testing and was told that the baby appeared to have a higher than 50% chance of being a downs syndrome child - based on test results and what appeared to be a disproportionate head size in an ultrasound. Thank GOD she never considered abortion. Little Aiden came along on July 21, 2005 - perfectly healthy...perfectly normal...with a perfectly big head - just like his daddy. Can't tell you how many times I've wondered how many babies were killed because a parent/parents didn't want to take the chance of having a "less-than-perfect" child.
Sad.

Neo-Con Tastic said...

They'll just try again to make themselves feel better and undoubtedly, take the same test again.