Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know things ahead before you make a mistake? Genelex has developed a lab process in which they can identify your genetic profile. This profile is then used to guide your decisions in medication intake so that your nutrition and drugs(s) will not cancel each other out—or worse, harm or kill you. The concept is similar to genetic counseling where two people’s genes can be examined to consider the possibility of a disease being passed onto their offspring. This preventive strategy sounds quite useful, and what I’m interested in is its psychological effects when conducted on different cases.

And interesting article from Washington Post discusses Genelex’s genetic profiling:

Think of how this test can affect our psyche and perception of risk when we know what exactly our chances of being harmed are. For instance, the article mentions smoking. Smokers overall have a 3X greater risk than nonsmokers of getting bladder cancer. Using genetic profiling, one can determine precisely what the chances of getting bladder cancer are. Those two genes that are “normal copies had a risk that was only two times greater. Those with one good gene and one bad one had a risk four times greater. And those with two bad genes had a risk seven times greater.”

This knowledge will no doubt have an effect on a person once they find out which “smoker’s” gene they have. It is likely that when a person knows their chances of getting a disease is significantly lower than every else, he/she may be more likely to take the risk and continue smoking or using whatever drug. A person who is already smoking knows that he/she is risking getting a disease. If he/she discovers that the chances of getting a disease is higher, one can say that since the risk is perceived as even higher now, the person is likely to quit the habit. I think the opposite; the person will continue with the habit because that person was willing to risk getting a disease in the first place, so their perceived risk wouldn’t really change.

On a note about the prescription process, the doctor is the one who prescribes the drugs, so why is it that doctors don’t already take it as their responsibility to make sure the patient isn’t harmed by the drug? It’s a little ridiculous to me that after we get a drug, then do we, the ones who aren’t medicine experts, seek out more medical aid and fork over the extra money to make sure the drug will fit well with other drugs and foods.