Marking Period 2 Week 4

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/opinion/17judson.html
In this column, Olivia Judson presents her opinion that although a great deal of research has gone into and data has been collected about genetic testing, it has not been able to solve many problems. Differently than other columnists on the subject of genetic testing, Judson does actually see validity in both sides of the argument, seeing both hope from new improvements and the great amount still unknown to us, but still has her own opinion. She feels that everyone thought increased genetic testing would mean more answers, but instead it has generally made things more complicated. For example, there has been a great amount of genetic research and collection of data, but she explains genes cannot do something simple like give us a connection to any physical appearance as hoped for. Judson explains more complication is added because one gene does not control a trait, a trait is a product of many genes, so even though a great amount of data has been collected, it is not helpful unless all the pieces are found. She feels there are two possibilities for genetic testing: either enough data will never be collected or a new approach must be taken, and while this may be interesting in science, realistically it is useless to solve any genetic issues so far.