Genetic testing of artistic ability is nonsense

A scientist conducts tests for 1GENE, a genetic testing company in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Xinhua]

SOME GENETIC TESTING agencies advertise that salvia can reveal how talented a child will be in certain arts. Even if the testing may cost more than 10,000 yuan ($1,464), many parents are willing to pay the price so they can increase their inputs to nurture their children's innate talents. Legal Daily comments:

Although genetic testing can be used to predict some hereditary diseases, there is no scientific evidence proving they can identify latent artistic ability. In biology, there is no such thing as "talent genes".

That there is not yet any effective supervision of this new business has helped encourage its rapid growth in some cities.

The testing agencies are not medical establishments, but profit-oriented commercial entities. The falsehoods contained in their test reports, which are invariably stated in vague wording, cannot be exposed until the child is older, and the parents are always ready and happy to hear that their children are talented in certain fields.

It is deep-pocketed parents' eagerness to discover their children's talents as well as their lack of knowledge that give the testing companies the opportunity to disguise their fraud behind genetic technology.

The swindle is similar to the computer fortune-telling that was popular some years ago when computers were rare in China.

The business administrative authorities and consumers rights protection organizations have no reason to sit idle when these companies take advantage of consumers that are ignorant of genetic traits.

It is irrational for parents to impose the results of these so-called genetic tests on children and restrict their natural exploration of their abilities in the arts at an early age. Parents should respect children's interests and help cultivate and protect their thirst for knowledge, arts and sports.