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News, analysis and commentary by UBC Journalism students

Luscious locks or naked noggin

Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Bruce Willis. What do these guys have in common other than the fact…

By Anna Fong , in Blogs Health and wellness , on February 29, 2008

Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Bruce Willis.

What do these guys have in common other than the fact they are famous action stars? Well, they have little or no hair on their heads but still received sex symbols status in Hollywood.

Our obsession with how we look is why a company in California is offering DNA testing for men to determine if they have the “bald gene”.

In a Globe and Mail article it mentioned how important this test is for men in their early 20s and 30s and that there was even a person who wanted to test their infant son.

Unfortunately, I think non-life threatening DNA tests help to proliferate the misconception that genetic testing is something we can use to ‘create’ the perfect human.

People then begin to fear genetic tests or forget that some tests are only predictors because certain conditions depend on external environmental factors.

The cost for the test is almost $150 (US). And the article mentions there is drug that can be taken, which can help slow down the hair loss process but does not prevent it.

The test sounds like a scam and the article addressed this because it revealed that the supporting research was funded by the American Hair Loss Association, which is a not-for-profit advocacy group.

Only at the very end of the article was there information about how researchers are using stem cells to help with wound healing and hair loss.

So I think the original idea for the article was probably about the stem cell research but it is difficult to make it sound interesting when the study is only in the early stages and testing is being done on mice.