I was waiting for Dan MacArthur to comment on the "ACTN3 sports gene" story because I knew he had done research on this very locus. As usual, he's rather diplomatic, with a post titled The ACTN3 sports gene test: what can it really tell you?. He says:
Kevin Fischer has already noted that from a pure cost-benefit point of view the ATLAS test doesn't compete with the offerings of personal genomics companies. ATLAS will charge you $150 for testing ACTN3; for just $250 more, you get genetic information pertaining to more than 90 different conditions and traits from 23andMe. Neither test is likely to change your life (the predictive power of most current genetic tests using common markers is extremely low), but if you're interested enough in recreational genetics to fork out for an ACTN3 test you might as well spend a little extra to get information on a bunch of other traits at the same time.
Remember those astrology infomercials on TV? "For entertainment purposes only!" Over the next few years many firms will piggy-back on the cultural prestige of science to make a quick buck. It seems the banal CW that new technology is oversold in the short term but underappreciated over the long term applies here. The new applied genetics (i.e., "personal genomics) will be seamlessly integrated into our lives in 10-20 years, but right now there's not much value-add for purchasing kits which tell people that they are European or have blue eyes.
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I agree with you. How about, in addition, the following psychological explanation that lies behind this kind of scam:
When it comes to extracting money from worried parents, there's no shortage of business models. Now the so-called "sports gene" test is finding a market for one reason only: because we parents are under so much pressure these days to make sure our kids succeed. That's because kids are facing competition everywhere they turn -- in school, in sports, in music, you name it. One girl I know even had to compete to get into her school's community service program!
All this hyper-competition makes us parents feel like our kids must be "the best" if they're going to survive in a dog-eat-dog world. Our evolutionary hardwiring -- which arose when it was essential for parents to push their kids to compete for food and to stay away from predators -- reacts to the competition in our children's world by turning on our "fight or flight" anxiety. It makes us feel that we have to do whatever we can to help our kids compete and win.
Enter the entrepreneurs willing to "help" us do that! Enter our criticism of parents for taking that bait. And yet. Let's tease out exactly why we criticize them. Because isn't it perfectly understandable that we want our kids to achieve? Sure. But the problem is that schemes like genetic testing put pressure on the kids to excel. And such pressure backfires. What makes children excel in sports is their love of the game -- which comes from the fun of playing, the feelings of camaraderie, the pride from acquiring new skills. Their passion motivates them to practice and eventually excel. But pressure from without -- from anyone, for example, expecting them to live up to the 'promise' of a so-called 'sports gene' -- is a good way to kill that passion.
Kathy Seal
Coauthor, Pressured Parents, Stressed-out Kids: Dealing with Competition to Raise a Successful Child
www.kathyseal.net