On Wednesday, a Senate committee passed a bill that would make it illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of their genes.

This is an important step: as we know more and more about the genetic variations that predispose people to certain diseases, it will become important to make sure the information doesn't get misused in any way. The law would stop insurance companies from denying coverage to someone with a high-risk gene, for example.

That's a long way off, however. The Senate has twice passed a similar measure unanimously, but it stalled both times in the House of Representatives. With a Democrat-controlled Congress, the outcome could be different. If it is, the law might also enocurage more people to get tested. Polls show that about 85% of people think their information would get misused--not exactly a strong incentive to get tested.

Even when people are willing to be tested, predictive screens open up a whole new can of worms--what to do with that information? Should people take certain extreme preventive measures, such as radical mastectomies if they carry high-risk breast cancer mutations? Should insurance companies pay for those treatments?

My friend and fellow journalism school alum Joanna Rudnick is making a personal and powerful documentary about these very issues.

Posted by Apoorva Mandavilli at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week’s New England Journal of Medicine carried a small, but alarming, report on those ever-so-calming substances lavender and tea tree oil.

The researchers noticed that three boys who were 4, 7 and 10 years old — so all prepubescent — developed gynecomastia. That’s jargon for enlarged breasts. Apparently, more than half of boys will show some signs of this during puberty but never before.

The first things doctors look for when something like this happens is exposure to the hormone estrogen. None of the boys had been exposed to any known estrogen source — no drugs, birth control pills or soy products. But two of the boys had been using products with lavender oil and one both lavender and tea tree oil. Once they stopped using the products, their breasts returned to normal.

Based on further experiments, the doctors are saying that these oils mimic the effects of estrogen and may be triggering hormone imbalances. Given the popularity of lavender-scented soap and skin lotions, shampoos and styling products, this seems to me to be big news. Okay, it’s three boys and some in vitro data, but it’s also published in a reputable journal and deserves investigation.

This seems to be just the beginning of a long and scary saga. What about women that may carry risk genes for estrogen-sensitive cancers? What about young girls? What about the rest of us? Should I throw away my lavender roller and tea tree oil body wash?

Posted by Apoorva Mandavilli at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)