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Just Because You Can Learn About Your Genes, Does It Mean You Should?

Our ability to decode the human genome has come a long way in the last decade.  And so has the availability of information about our genes.

But just because you could learn what’s in your genetic makeup, does that mean you should?  And it does it mean that you should share that knowledge with your relatives, or the insurance industry?

In his book, Am I My Genes?Doctor Robert Klitzman writes that in many ways the science of genetics has outpaced the ethical and moral implications of that work.

"A problem like genetics goes to the core really of who we are as people," Klitzman says. "What does it mean to be human? How much free will do I have? How am I connected to my parents? These are broad questions that rely and need not just understanding from science, but understanding from the humanities as well."

Klitzman is professor of psychiatry and director of Masters of Bioethics Program at Columbia University, and author of the book, Am I My Genes: Confronting Fate and Family Secrets in the Age of Genetic Testing. He spoke with Lake Effect's Mitch Teich when visiting Milwaukee to speak to audiences at the Milwaukee Academy of Medicine and the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Audrey is a WUWM host and producer for Lake Effect.