People who are concerned with the dangers of serious illnesses like Parkinson’s disease or various types of cancer have a new resource to evaluate the likelihood of developing them — an online service which analyzes genes and reports on the possibility of contracting diseases.For $399, customers can mail a saliva sample to 23andMe, a personal genomics company based in California which tests the customer’s DNA for genes commonly correlated with certain diseases. The site then provides a report on whether clients are more, less or as likely as the average person to develop 116 different diseases and traits.Results for tests like this one are determined by looking for genes which have been highly correlated with certain conditions, said Steven Pomarico, biology professor. One example is two genes in women, which can be evidence of breast cancer.”If you’ve got one of the two genes, your chance for developing breast cancer is six times greater,” Pomarico said. “If you’ve got both, your chance is 600 times greater.”Several variables with services like these make genetic testing a slippery slope, Pomarico said. The company’s ability to properly analyze genes and the quality of current research about diseases could affect that test’s accuracy, and the average person may not be able to ascertain that information, he said.23andMe acknowledges the room for error in its test results and is clear about what its service is not meant to be.”We cannot and do not diagnose diseases or medical conditions, provide medical advice or otherwise assess your health,” according to 23andMe’s Web site.Pomarico said one useful application of the data would be avoiding environmental factors which could increase the chances of developing a condition.”If I found out I was predisposed to a lung condition, I wouldn’t want to live in a place where pollution is high,” Pomarico said.Blaire Whitaker, communication disorders sophomore, said she would be cautious about test results.”If I got bad news, I wouldn’t be too pessimistic,” she said. “I would definitely go to the doctor.”Alejandra Vargas, psychology junior, agreed on the importance of a doctor.”Based on the percentage of how likely I am to get a disease, I would take precautions and ask my doctor if I should be concerned,” Vargas said.But there could be other uses for the data not intended by 23andMe, Pomarico said. Knowledge about predisposition to disease could affect the way people think about insurance policies.”People might say, ‘If I know I have something really bad, I should increase my life insurance. I’ll take out a gazillion dollar policy and leave a lot of money to someone,'” Pomarico said. The other side of that — insurance companies gaining genetic information about policy holders — could also be a concern.”If you were an insurance company and you had an accurate way of assessing that one group of people had higher likelihood of getting a condition than another group, wouldn’t you charge the first group more for insurance?” Pomarico said. “It could be a good business model. But is it ethical?”23andMe offers customers the option of keeping results private or making it available to others.Pomarico said the results and how customers use them may vary, but the bottom line on genetic testing is research, and the interpretation of it is always changing.—–Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]