ifida,
Don't be ashamed, not everyone is bright. I'll be glad to help.
I have no idea of anyone else being able to determine eye color/shade. Truth be told we have no real eveidence that DNAP can do it on a consistant basis yet. Retinome has not yet made it to market.
However, if you will read my previous post, I quite clearly pointed out that DNAP has marked out it's own little corner of the DNA characterisation realm. There is plenty of DNA real estate to go around. Most other labs are concentrating on other fields such as developing the links between DNA and Cancer, heart disease, longevity etc.
Eyecolor has not seemed to have too many competitors. That could be good...or bad. It's good if DNAP gets there first and there is any market for it. It's bad if the rest of the genetic industry already determined that there was no value in it and it wasn't worth pursuing.
Let me try one more time to characterize the technology. There are countless labs around the world engaged in the process of connecting the dots of DNA patterns to physiological traits. The technology that enabled these projects, i.e. High Throughput Analyzers and the Human Genome project, are bonafide breakthroughs.
There are 3 billion base pairs in the human genome. There are countless physiological features in each individual. Many thousands of them have already been mapped, countless thousands of them remain. As each one is done, a check mark can be placed against it on the list. Each checkmark represents an interesting and important part in the continuing advancement of our understanding. But none of them are breakthroughs, they are 'turn the crank' science. Eventually they will all be done and the world will never be the same, but individually they are small pieces of the puzzle.
In the grand scheme of things finding the secret to preventing heart disease or diabetes, or possibly conquering death itself will be major pieces of the puzzle. Connecting up some DNA to eyeshade is a little lower on the list, and while it might make a few bucks it will not be earthshaking.
regards,
frog
