Genes of the future
A boom in mass DNA testing of children has begun in China
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
Chinese residents are sure that if a child's innate inclinations are determined from infancy by the genome, this will increase his chances of success in life. The fact that this procedure is questionable from a scientific point of view does not stop them.
A new mania has gripped China: more and more parents are willing to pay for genetic tests that supposedly predict the character and abilities of a child. This should guarantee him success in life. The story of one of these parents tells Bloomberg.
Chris Jung is the CEO of Good Union Corp., a Hong Kong—based medical equipment manufacturer. This company owns Gene Discovery, one of dozens of companies that help determine the future of children through genetic testing.
Shortly after the birth of his daughter, Jung gave Gene Discovery samples of her saliva. Although the father hoped that his daughter would become a doctor or a lawyer, the test pointed to memory problems.
This means that it would take too much effort from a girl to succeed in medicine or law. So Jung had to adjust his dreams. Now he plans to help his daughter develop her abilities for music and sports, which were discovered by the analysis of her DNA.
Like Jung, thousands of parents across China are giving their children's DNA for analysis to identify their strengths and weaknesses. They believe that if you determine the ideal future profession at a very early age and start preparing for it from the cradle, the child will be ahead of peers who choose the field of activity randomly.
Unfortunately, from a scientific point of view, such tests are no better than fortune-telling on coffee grounds.
There is no way to link features to DNA with complex traits such as character traits and professional inclinations.
Even relatively simple characteristics such as height and intelligence are very poorly determined by modern genetic tests. As for the more complex ones, many of them may depend more on non-genetic factors, for example, environment and upbringing.
In this light, the willingness of some Chinese parents to change the approach to raising their children on the basis of questionable tests seems to be a fatal mistake. Nevertheless, the popularity of such genetic testing is growing rapidly.
Despite the lifting of restrictions on the number of children, one child is still born in most Chinese families. It is not surprising that parents are ready to invest in his success in all available ways, including the most eccentric ones.
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