Genetic testing as a way of getting to know a child's hidden aptitude is a fad fast catching on in HK. But the results should not be taken as gospel truth, experts tell Hua Yang.

When Suki Law learned from her friends that some tests might be able to reveal the latent talents of her 4-year-old son, she wanted to know, right away, where could she get the test done and how much it would cost.

"Sometimes I found it difficult to interact with him, like he is pretty good at language but bad at math. I was hoping this test could help me understand more about him and match him with the right activity," said Law, an office clerk in her 30s.

Services proffering genetic testing promising to identify inheritable traits pointing to hidden talents have mushroomed in Hong Kong in recent years - playing to the obsessions of parents who believe their offspring must possess the natural qualities of sheer genius. The fact that the scientific basis for these tests has been called into question doesn't seem to matter.

Law got right to it. She took her son to a company called "Infinite Power" to have her son's fingerprints tested in search of clues to the boy's hidden abilities. It cost her about HK$3,000.

Galam Cheung, founder of the company, claimed that the method is based on the premise that the patterns of one's fingertips are in sync with those on his or her left and right brain. These in turn can point out the potential of a person.

Cheung himself has no professional qualifications regarding medicine or genetics. He is an entrepreneur with years of experience in retailing.

The boy's fingerprints were taken, and then submitted for analysis based on a worldwide database purporting to reveal competencies in eight different faculties, including logical skills and linguistic ability.

Law said she found the results illuminating. She decided to go to the next step, submitting her son for genetic testing by the company. It cost her about HK$20,000. A simple saliva swab or a blood sample from the child is sent to the US for analysis - leading to the production of a detailed assessment.

"Genetic tests could be more detailed and accurate by taking a closer look at the genetic codes, but they are also much more expensive. At the moment, we have more parents doing fingerprints tests than genetic testing," Cheung said.

The lab tests for hundreds of gene variants are also said to reveal genetic predisposition for serious diseases, as well as natural talents.

The lab may examine variations of the ACTN3 gene, which has been shown to be closely linked with athletic abilities according to a 2003 study by a group of Australian researchers. ("ACTN3 genotype is associated with elite athletic performance", published in The American Journal of Human Genetics in July 2003, by Nan Yang, Daniel G. MacArthur, et al.)

Everyone has two ACTN3 genes, one from each parent. The ACTN3 gene has two alleles: ACTN3 577R and ACTN3 577X. The researchers looked for variations within the gene among a population of elite athletes at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

They found athletes in sports that rely on quick-twitch muscles for a quick burst of strength, like a sprinter, have significantly higher frequencies of two copies of the 577R allele.

Speaking of the tests undertaken by her son, Law said she felt like she "can understand him more after seeing the results". "He learned language very fast and can already communicate with us in English. The results say he has great potential in this area. It explains everything," said Law.

Chan Kwong-yuen, genetic counselor of Le Gene, a company offering a wide range of genetic tests, said their client base among parents seeking to identify talents in their children was growing fast. Chan received his certificate for genetic counseling from the Human Genetics Society of Australasia.

"Genetic testing for children has been a top popular test since our opening. A lot of parents came to us with no idea of the potential in their kids and they want the test to help them educate their kids," said Dr Kwok Yuk-lung of Le Gene.

Conflicting results

But some experts caution that credulous parents may easily be misled by the findings. "These genes may have a role in one's success in certain areas, but it's not that black and white," said Brian Chung, a clinical geneticist at Queen Mary Hospital.

Chung noted that there have been several researches in Europe and the United States, noting that a client can get different results at different gene companies as they have different standards.

A study made by Pauline Ng and three other researchers in 2009 showed that five individuals found contradictory results from their genetic tests at two different companies.

"It is very difficult to determine whether a child would be predisposed to specific talents. Genetic testing is still in the infancy stage of research. The tests therefore do not make much sense," said Dennis Lo, a professor of chemical pathology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

"Even if they are accurately looking at a certain positive association, they've ignored the vast majority of other factors," said Chung. "At the moment, we have limited knowledge on how these genes interact with other genes and with environmental exposures."

The major issue, Chung said, is that genes account for only less than 20 percent of human development potential. "Nurture" wins out over nature in many cases.

Another concern is that the standards that apply to the US or Germany may not be accurate for people from Hong Kong. Most companies send the samples to be tested abroad. The tests developed in those countries are based on genes sequenced domestically or that in a few other countries. Even if the test works well for people based in those places, it may not for people in Asia.

In such cases, not only will the child be directly affected by the results, so will the rest of the family, say the experts. Even if a child is detected to have a latent talent, it might be somewhat inconsistent with his personal interest.

The tests may be interesting as a kind of entertainment, but do not take them seriously enough to set the guidelines regarding your child's life, Chung suggested.

At the moment, direct-to-consumer talent tests in Hong Kong come to the market without any form of regulation. Even in Europe and the US, the regulation of direct-to-consumer genetic testing has until now focused on identifying predispositions to diseases and quality issues in testing. The regulation of commercial genetic testing for other purposes is rarely discussed.

"Better regulation is needed at the marketing of all kinds of genetic tests in Hong Kong as they can have a significant impact on people's life," said Lo.

Contact the writer at amandahua@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 03/31/2015 page7)