All posts from June, 2008
June 27, 2008
Amy DuRoss,
Navigenics Vice President of Policy and Business Affairs
Posted 08:03 AM PDT
Genetic testing has been making headlines recently, but not just for the promise it holds for boosting health. Instead, regulatory issues in the state of California have been at the forefront of the news. State health officials recently sent letters to more than a dozen genetic testing firms, including Navigenics, asking each to stop providing services to customers.
At issue is whether genetic testing companies adhere to California’s clinical laboratory licensing laws. Here at Navigenics, we believe we do, and we will work diligently with both state and federal regulatory agencies to clarify any misunderstandings.
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Categories: About Navigenics, Policy
June 24, 2008
Amy DuRoss,
Navigenics Vice President of Policy and Business Affairs
Posted 03:50 PM PDT
When President Bush signed a powerful new law prohibiting genetic discrimination last month, it was great news – even though the law doesn’t take effect until next year. Here is how these safeguards matter in the meantime.
The new Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA, creates important protections that give you more control over your DNA and your health.
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Categories: Genetic privacy, Policy
June 24, 2008
Posted 03:45 PM PDT
If you consider yourself fairly trim—perhaps a woman who is 5’7’’ and weighs about 135 to 140 pounds, or a man 
who measures an even 6 feet and weighs 170 pounds—you may think you don’t have to worry about your weight and your health. You may need to think again.
We’ve all been trained to assume that a lower BMI, or Body Mass Index, always equals better health. But recent research from the Mayo Clinic says what really matters is body fat, not weight or BMI. You may appear to be in pretty good shape, but form isn’t always an accurate indicator of body fat. And if you carry a relatively high percentage of body fat – more than 20 percent for men or 30 percent for women—you may still be at increased risk for serious health problems such as diabetes or heart disease.
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Categories: Healthy weight, Diabetes, Heart disease, Obesity
June 24, 2008
Posted 02:00 PM PDT
Since its inception, Navigenics has been driven by the vision of improving health outcomes. The feedback from our members is exciting. Over the last few months we have heard from those discovering colon cancer risk and then finding polyps, discovering glaucoma risk and then discovering elevated eye pressure, discovering celiac disease risk and then getting a positive diagnosis, and many others.
We are at the very early stages of the new era of predictive genomics and personalized medicine. There are many voices, there is much debate and there is great dialogue. As part of furthering that discussion, today we are pleased to announce the launch of our official company blog, The Navigator. Through this blog, we hope to add our voices more regularly to the dialogue on genes and health. We also want to create the opportunity to get more of your feedback and add your voices to the discussion.
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Categories: About Navigenics, Celiac disease, Colon cancer, Glaucoma