Veritas Genetics offers newborn genome sequencing in China
Boston-based DNA sequencing firm Veritas Genetics has introduced a service that decodes the genome of Chinese babies. The test, called myBabyGenome, can identify in advance 950 serious early- and later-life health risks, 200 genes linked to drug responses, as well as over 100 physical and behavioural characteristics, from baldness to a tendency to overeat, according to Veritas. The $1,200 test has been criticised by some experts. It runs the risk of "predestination based on bad science", said Jim Evans, professor of genetics at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Veritas has said it would only release "appropriate" information and participating parents could buy more data at a later stage.
Called myBabyGenome, the service costs $1,500 and could help identify serious hidden problems in newborns, the company says.

But some doctors say the plan is a huge overstep. “I think it’s vastly premature to peddle a completely unproven set of data, especially to a vulnerable population like neonates,” says Jim Evans, a professor of genetics at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

The problem is that the risk posed by many disease genes remains uncertain. Even if a child has a mutation in a gene, he or she may never be affected, prompting debate among doctors about whether it’s useful to inform parents.

The Veritas test also steps into uncharted territory by making predictions about how children will look and act: how wide their nose will be, whether they will overeat or have a “novelty seeking” personality, and even whether they are likely to go bald decades in the future.

Evans is sharply critical of any effort to predict traits. Especially with psychology, he says, genetic factors aren’t well understood. “You run the risk of predestination based on bad science,” he says. “Frankly, I think it’s a little bit crazy to do genetic tests on your newborn to find out if 40 years from now they are going to be bald.”

Veritas, a spinoff of Harvard University’s Personal Genome Project, specializes in inexpensive “whole genome” sequencing using the latest speedy DNA technology.

For $999, it has since last year offered adults in the U.S. the chance to learn the sequence of the six billion DNA letters in their cells. A doctor must order that test. Gene knowledge can be critically useful to anyone who’s facing an undiagnosed disease or whose DNA harbors a cancer risk. But for most people the readout is little more than a novelty. Consumer demand for genome scans remains tepid.

Veritas, which already operates a sequencing lab in China, nevertheless appears to be betting that newborn sequencing could become a must-have product for ambitious parents there.