Science

Further response to Camilla Long's ode to genetic ignorance

Earlier this month I wrote a post skewering a terrible opinion piece about personal genomics in the Sunday Times by Camilla Long. This was my conclusion: If Long wishes to stay ignorant of her own genetic risks – just as she has managed to remain ignorant of the entire field of genetics, even while writing […]

Earlier this month I wrote a post skewering a terrible opinion piece about personal genomics in the Sunday Times by Camilla Long. This was my conclusion:

If Long wishes to stay ignorant of her own genetic risks - just as she has managed to remain ignorant of the entire field of genetics, even while writing an op-ed piece about it - that should be her choice. But her criticism of others who choose to pursue a greater understanding of their own genetic risk is entirely, horrendously misplaced.

Dan Vorhaus from Genomics Law Report was equally disgusted by the piece. While we were unsuccessful in getting a formal response published as a letter in last weekend's Sunday Times [added 01/04/10:* a heavily-edited version of our letter has now been published*], we've now penned a combined rebuttal to Long's article as a post on the Times Online Science blog.Thanks to the Times Online Science crew for kindly agreeing to host the article!