Denver Post reports on the quick development of a test kit by a Colorado company, and its mystical powers:
The tests, called Cellf Genetic Assessments, are produced by another Boulder company, Sciona Inc. The tests allow customers to collect their own DNA with a swab and mail it to a laboratory that tests the sample and returns detailed health and diet recommendations based on genetic analysis.
‘This is the future of self-care,’ said Don Summerfield, vice president of integrative medicine for Pharmaca, a company that combines traditional prescriptions in a drugstore concept with homeopathic and natural medicines. ‘It provides a blueprint of what is specific to you.’
While Pharmaca and Sciona officials pitch the test as an opportunity for customers to tailor their diet and exercise regimes to their specific health risks, some experts are skeptical. They caution that the science may not be far enough along to support retail sales, and customers might not be equipped to deal with the information without a doctor’s guidance.
The Cellf Assessments testing packages so far available are not, um, the product of what one might describe as ‘top shelf’ genetic research. Genetics and Public Health blog actually conversed with these Sciona folks, which is somewhat interesting to read but frankly these particular tests don’t seem to me to be going anywhere. But their availability in drug stores – and the marketing that led to it – opens the door to a wave of home genetic tests that at this point would still be essentially unregulated.