That's right. There are patents out there that say you can't even know your own gene sequence. It is like telling someone they can't know if they have blue eyes on a rating of ridiculousness. The genes that are patented show your chance of getting certain heriditary diseases, including the BRCA 1 and 2 genes. These genes tell whether you are more or less likely to get breast or ovarian cancer, and the test to read these gene sequences is only offered to the company who patented it, Myriad Genetics. Unfortunately, this test is over $3000 dollars for a simple blood draw, which then has the blood centrifuged and analyzed, decoding the sequence and searching for mutation. There is no room for competitive pricing or cheaper process design because only this company can run tests on these genes. Another down side is the fact that many insurences are turned down by the company as they will not pay full price for the process. Altogether, this costly examination is not easily available and it should be since it can save lives.
Women that got the test would be able to go through precautions to avoid getting such a killing cancer, by having ovaries or breast removed.
I'm going to write an argumentative essay about this. Just so all of you know.
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