Genetic testing is used for revealing what diseases a certain person is most predisposed to; diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart attack and some forms of cancer. But how would this information affect a person’s life, will it make that certain person conduct his/her life in a healthy way or will it make that person become desperate and go on an endless quest to find the perfect way to prevent the disease from ever happening? San Diego's Scripps Translational Science Institute thought exactly of this issue and it announced on Thursday that it will conduct a study concerning how the information from genetic testing affects people’s lives.

The study is sponsored by the Scripps Translational Science Institute, Navigenics, Affymetrix and Microsoft. The participants in the study must be 18 years of age or older and receive a scan of their genome by giving a sample of their saliva. This analysis can show the potential risks of no more than 20 different diseases. The people involved in the study will be under observation for 20 years in order to see if the information from the genetic tests will have a positive or negative effect on their lifestyles.

This study will be conducted on approximately 10,000 people who will store the results of their analysis in a HealthVault account, created by Microsoft. Scientists believe this study to be important from a social and psychological point of view and will show if people today are ready to cope with the possible information their DNA can give scientists.