Genes or lifestyle? Nature or nurture? How likely is it that you’ll get sick? It’s becoming clear that the answer lies in a minute portion of human DNA–the .1% that makes you different from me.
Catherine Arnst writes in a recent Business Week article, ”On Oct. 27 the three-year old International HapMap Consortium published a comprehensive catalog of more than 1 million human genetic variations, grouped in blocks called haplotypes. The DNA sequences of any two individuals are 99.9% the same, but the range of variations in the remaining 0.1% is enormous. That 0.1% is responsible for a predisposition to asthma, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, schizophrenia, and many other ailments.”
Her article is entitled ”How Likely Are You To Get Sick?” Click on the title to read the story. Read about hap maps and the concerns of some ethicists.