Predicting your future

Have you ever wanted to know how you might die, or how smart your children will be? A home DNA testing kit could be your chance to find out what may happen to you, but some experts aren't keen to back the idea.

One curious customer, Nick Miller, wanted to find out about his fate, so he ordered one of the kits online.

He took a swab of saliva, sealed it and sent it to a genetic testing lab in Iceland and in just six weeks, the results came through.

"You get an email which says your genetic results are ready, you log on to the site and read what you're going to die of," says Nick.

The test revealed he has a great risk of developing glaucoma, the disease which results in blindness, and a high chance of developing an intra-cranial aneurysm, that's a bulging artery in the brain which can erupt, causing a stroke.

"I'm going to be more careful in sun and get my skin checked," says Nick. "But an intra-cranial aneurysm, it's just something that can happen and it doesn't concern me too much. If you go through life worrying about all the things that could go wrong, I don't think you're going to lead much of a life."

Genetic kits are available at the click of a button. Last year the retail genetic test by the company 23andMe, won Time Magazine's award for invention of the year. It was found to be the most accessible and affordable at $400 a kit.

But not all experts are behind the idea. Professor Hopper, a leading authority on genetics from Melbourne University, says, "I think they're fine if people want to spend their money that way, but they shouldn't pretend that they're actually getting useful information. They might as well go and read their horoscope."

"Genetic testing as a whole can be very useful," he adds. "But what we're seeing here is a trivialisation of it, it does demean the whole effort of medical genetics. The companies involved have made major contributions to medical genetics but it's sad to see them stooping to this level of deceit in trying to make money."

Professor Hopper says even if the information is accurate, it isn't necessarily useful. "The average GP wouldn't know how to interpret these results and people are being sidelined to worry about things that aren't important," he says.

Psychologist Robyn Rubenstin says at the very least, a counsellor should be present when people are given the results.

"It's very dangerous, particularly for people with anxiety issues. There is no component of what you could do to prevent the impending illness, your anxiety is just going to sky rocket," she said.

Within a few months, the tests will be available in Australia but the Federal Government is already considering banning them.

"Until you actually know how to translate that genetic information into a benefit, then I don't think it should be launched on the public. I think there's so much more research that has to be done before using this new technology to make a difference," says Professor Hopper.