More than 100 Britons have now taken a revolutionary blood test to see how fast they are ageing, and which might be used in the future to indicate statistically how long they have got left to live.
I won’t be one of them. Firstly because I don’t want to know and secondly, I could be killed in an accident and the length of my telomeres is about as useful a predictor as Mystic Meg.
Worryingly, it seems that insurers might be taking this seriously.
Life Length has nevertheless been in discussions with the insurance industry about introducing the test as part of the standard medical check-up that customers usually take before being offered life or medical insurance.
This is despite it being an unproven method of determination. We live as long as we live and insurers take a chance on that – it’s how they make their money. However, short telomeres could one day become a bar to getting life insurance if this is anything to go by. Of course, we could just not buy life insurance…
Just one more small step towards ‘Gattica’?
Just once I’d like TPTB not to take distopian fiction as a how-to manual!
Life insurance? You can just chuck me in a skip when I’m gone.
Ok yet another spelling mistake! ‘Gattaca’ (It was thinking about Uma that caused the slip – honest not either a lack of ejicashun or dexterity, whether Etoh had any effect I refuse to confirm or deny)
Yep, it’s not the length that’s important, it’s what you do with it that counts.
Um no…it’s always the length. Really.
Sorry 😐
/snigger