A test to tell if you are at risk from Alzheimer’s disease and dozens of other conditions goes on sale in Britain today costing £125.

在英国，你只要花125英镑（约合人民币1210元）进行一个DNA检测，就能知道自己患阿尔兹海默症（Alzheimer’s disease）或其他几十种疾病的风险有多高。

The test uses a saliva² sample to provide more than 100 pieces of genetic⁴ information including whether users are more likely than normal to suffer Parkinson’s, some cancers or baldness.

这项测试以唾液作为样本，可为测试者提供100多种基因信息，包括患帕金森症（Parkinson’s）、脱发或某些癌症的风险是否高于正常水平。

It can also predict whether they like coffee or hate Brussels sprouts⁵, which type of exercise is likely to suit them best and give information about a person’s ancestry⁶.

测试还能预知他们对食物的偏好，如爱喝咖啡或者不爱吃抱子甘蓝，以及最适合的锻炼方式，也可以知晓某人的家族史。

The test, already available in the US, is being marketed online by 23andMe, a firm part-funded by Google. A customer spits into a tube, seals it and sends it back to 23andMe’s labs for analysis. Four to six weeks later, they receive a detailed⁷ report in the post written in everyday language.

目前，人们已经可在美国接受此测试，由谷歌公司部分出资的“23andMe”的公司也在进行网上销售。顾客可以用小试管收集自己的唾液，把它密封好，然后寄到公司的实验室进行分析。四至六周后，顾客便能收到简单易懂的详细测试报告。

It will tell them, for instance, whether their risk of Alzheimer’s disease is higher or lower than average. 23andMe – run by Anne Wojcicki, wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin – says its ‘mission is to ensure that individuals can personally access, understand and benefit from the human genome’.

报告可以提供多种信息，比如顾客患阿尔兹海默症的风险是大还是小。23andMe公司老板安．沃洁希奇(Anne Wojcicki)是谷歌的联合创始人谢尔盖·布尔 （Sergey Brin）的妻子。该公司表示，他们的使命是确保人人都能亲身测试，并对人类基因组多些了解而且从中获益。

It says that armed with the information, people can take better care of their health. For instance, the print-out may give someone the impetus⁸ they need to give up smoking or it could mean they undergo regular health checks so that an illness can be caught – and treated early.

公司还表示，通过检测信息，人们可以更好地照顾自己身体。比如，报告可以为测试者提供戒烟的动力，也可能促使他们定期接受健康检查，尽早发现疾病并进行治疗。

Genetic tests are already available in Britain but generally provide less information and are more expensive.

基因测试也已经在英国启用，但一般提供的信息较少，而且费用更高昂。

However, critics say the science behind such analysis is not is not advanced enough to provide worthwhile results.

然而，有批评家指出，这项分析所运用的科学技术并不够先进，不能提供有价值的结果。

This could lead to some people being falsely reassured⁹, others worrying unnecessarily or facing higher insurance premiums¹⁰ and the NHS being put under added pressure.

一些人可能会轻易消除对疾病的隐忧，另一些人可能会面临不必要的担心或承担更高额的保险，而英国国民健康保险制度（NHS）也将面临更大压力

The firm has been banned from providing some information from the tests to customers in the US over fears it would lead to people seeking out treatment they do not need.

美国禁止该公司向顾客透露某些测试结果，以防顾客盲目接受不必要的治疗。

The US health watchdog, the Food and Drug Administration, was particularly concerned about information provided on one gene³, BRCA, that raises the odds¹¹ of breast and ovarian cancer.

美国食品和药物管理局（the Food and Drug Administration）格外担忧某些夸大乳腺癌或卵巢癌患病几率的信息，这些信息往往只分析了乳腺癌易感基因（BRCA）便轻易得出结果。

It said: ‘For instance, if the BRCA-related risk assessment¹² for breast or ovarian cancer reports a false positive, it could lead a patient to undergo prophylactic¹³ surgery, chemoprevention, intensive screening, or other morbidity-inducing actions, while a false negative could result in a failure to recognise an actual risk that may exist.’

管理局的发言人说：“如果对乳腺癌或卵巢癌的风险评估结果是假阳性，患者便可能接受预防性手术、化学治疗、频繁检查或有其他诱导疾病的行为。而如果测试结果是假阴性，患者便意识不到实际风险的存在。

There are also concerns that someone told they have a higher risk of an incurable¹⁴ condition such as Alzheimer’s may take a fatalistic approach and stop looking after their health.

也有人担心，一些人如果得知自己可能患有不治之症，比如阿尔兹海默症，这些人便会选择听天由命，放弃接受治疗。

Professor Sally Hodgson, an expert in cancer genetics from St George’s Hospital in South London, said DNA¹ analysis is ‘very open to misunderstanding’.

莎莉·霍奇森（Sally Hodgson）是伦敦南部圣乔治医院（St George’s Hospital）癌症遗传学方面的专家，她认为，DNA测试也存在被误解的可能。

She warned that the results could cause ‘undue¹⁵ and inappropriate anxiety’ and said that valuable NHS time could be taken up by people requesting further tests.

她认为，测试结果或会造成“不必要和不适当的忧虑”，而人们对进一步测试的需求会占用健康保险业的宝贵时间。