In a new twist, a post by budding skeptic, Debi:
Ryan kept insisting that the little store around the corner from our house (it’s called “Nutrition Works” and is owned by Raj Patel) had a flashing sign saying DNA Testing. Being curious I finally told him I had to go check it out. The store sold “organic”, “health” stuff. Ryan urged me to go talk to the owner who had said hi when we walked in. He seemed nice, and I didn’t want to cause him stress or make him feel stupid. Anyway I did ask what the DNA testing was and he informed me that they could send off for any type of testing. When pressed he provided examples such as paternity or ethnicity testing. He reiterated at least two or three times that they could do DNA tests for medical conditions, but later couched this by indicating that would require interpretation by a doctor. He clearly didn’t understand what I meant when I said I didn’t think the company did that type of testing or looked at any of the pieces of DNA necessary for that type of testing. Had I not been so nice I am sure I could have made him look more like an idiot. He asked me if I had ever done genetic testing at which point I disclosed that I trained as a genetic counselor and at that point he didn’t have much to say. Looking back I should have gone in and asked him if he could do BRCA1 testing for breast cancer, my fear is that he would have said yes. Paternity and ethnicity testing cost between $250 and $500, which is about the same as what the company charges if you do it directly through them.
This is a good illustration of companies jumping on trends to make money regardless of any evidence supporting what they are claiming. We got a card from Mr. Patel and it says, “We offers (sic) DRUG TESTING, DNA TESTING, PATERNITY TESTING, STEROID TESTING.” I don’t really want to be mean, but this is remarkably misleading.
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