Scare tactics? For those who dont know Decode and its highly “successful” and previous owner Kari Stefansson (not sure how its stands now since Decode was sold to the highest bidder after the Icelandic economy crash), it is one of the first or maybe even the first company to collect population genetic data and create a database used to identify genes responsible for illnesses such as diabetes.
Stefansson, who probably could convince the pope to have a slumber party at the Vatican, build this company from the scratch with some help from the Icelandic government and random rich guys. However, as mentioned before the company has now been sold (reads: Saved from bankruptcy). If you knew about Decode genetics then you might have heard about decodeME, a personal service where one can send in a cheek swab (CSI style) and get to know about their disease risk for the low price of approx. 1000 usd. To me, this is the future of scare tactics, whereby the constant cancer threat, diabetes etc can be used to make money. As before, I dont know what the future beholds but if I was a bettingman I would put a tenner on this being the way investors see their fortune grow.
Even when reading through the customer reviews, you see an older gentleman leaning on his motorcycle, stating decodeME possibly save his life-I would have told him that he should leave the bike alone if he wanted to live longer and only charge him 10 usd for it. In most cases, genetics cant tell the whole story, although I have to admit that decodeME is probably more accurate than a fortuneteller (but much more expensive and less fun). But hey, America watch out, decodeME is coming to get all´ya rich countryfolks!
Links: http://www.decodeme.com/
