Family History

'Whenever families gather, the Surgeon General encourages them to talk about, and to write down, the health problems that seem to run in their family. Learning about their family's health history may help ensure a longer future together.'

Although we are increasingly aware of how genetics affects our health, most of us are relatively unaware of our family's health history. The U.S. Surgeon General's Family Health History initiative aims to fill this gap by providing tools to help in the recording and disseminating of your family history.

The program was introduced at Thanksgiving 2004, the online tools were provided for Thanksgiving 2005 and I'd like to give them a little publicity for the 4th of July 2006 - another holiday when many families gather together.

Whilst some illnesses may have relatively simple Mendelian genetics, others have a more complex set of causes. If you'd like the facts about what we currently know about the genetic contribution to almost any disease (from A-alphalipoprotein Neuropathy to YY syndrome) I'd recommend the Genetics Home Reference site - a part of the National Library of Medicine's web site.