Op-Ed: You Think Your Kid Can Dance -What Do the Genes Say?
October 1st , 2009
By Susanne Haga, PhD
This Op-Ed appeared in the September 24th, 2009 edition of The Herald-Sun (Durham, NC).
CNN recently reported that some parents in China are trying to maximize their children’s chances of success by choosing activities for them based on genetic test results. While genetic testing for all sorts of diseases and traits is also available in the U.S., this may be the first time parents are actually using it, or at least attempting to use it, as a literal talent screen.
But a reality check is in order. While genes do contribute to our health, looks, personalities and talents for sure, they are far from the only factor that makes us who we are or will be, and they don’t operate in a vacuum. Parents may do just as well to choose between football and the violin, painting and ballet by flipping a coin as by testing DNA.
Genetic testing has been around for decades, and no doubt there has been a significant increase in understanding of how our genes work and what can happen when the DNA code gets scrambled or even slightly misspelled. Not so long ago, the genetic tests that can unlock those details were ordered only by doctors, but now anyone can buy them online with the click of a mouse and a credit card. For a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, you can get a genetic risk report for one or more than a hundred diseases and traits. For about $100,000, you can have your entire DNA sequenced, analyzed and placed in secure storage.
But what happens when people start turning these emerging technologies on their children, possibly even from birth or before? On the more harmless side, if a child appears to have a genetic predilection for sports, maybe parents could decorate the nursery with soccer or baseballs. If they carry a gene for perfect pitch, maybe a little more Mozart is in order.
But parents (especially those who have seen a little too much of the movie “Gattaca”) could also get overzealous in their attempts to develop a child’s genetically predicted talents, pushing them too hard in some directions and denying them the opportunity for others that aren’t written in their genes.
Before we let our imaginations run too far down such a slippery slope, rest assured we are a long way from ever being able to predict our child’s intelligence or other talents. The reality is, we may never be able to do that. Even what we think we know today can be overturned or revised by some breakthrough discovery tomorrow — such is the nature and excitement of research.
With more than 20,000 genes, we really have no inkling what the recipe is for the next Michael Jordan or Einstein. The combination of genes and environmental influences are essentially infinite and there’s surely more than one way to realize any goal.
Even if we could accurately predict height or other physical attributes, there is no guarantee that a child will become the next great basketball player, no matter how many years of camp or training we sign them up for. After all, there are plenty of tall people who aren’t good at basketball, and some short ones who are.
For the foreseeable future at least, planning your child’s activities based on their DNA can lead to little more than unrealistic expectations and disappointment on all sides. While parents may believe they are maximizing their child’s potential, they are just as likely — perhaps more likely — to be putting limits around it. Our understanding of the genetic basis for our personalities and talents is in its infancy. Give the science — and more important, our kids — the time they need to grow up.