New York – Jewish New Yorkers Offered Affordable Cancer Gene Testing

New York – The nonprofit Program for Jewish Genetic Health and the Montefiore Health System are working together to offer Jewish New Yorkers affordable testing for cancer gene mutations.

Many who find out they carry mutations that can cause a high risk of cancer decide to have preventive surgery – such as the recent surgeries actress Angelina Jolie has undergone. But most insurance companies only cover genetic testing if the person with the mutated gene has a family history of cancer, according to NY Daily News (http://nydn.us/1BTRMK4).

The program offers Jews who don’t have a family history of cancer and who are over 25 years old $100 saliva screening tests and free pretest genetic counseling. Anyone who is high risk because of a family history of cancer can also participate and will receive a more inclusive test.

Ashkenazi Jews are at higher risk due to their heritage – about 1 in 40 Jews with ancestral ties to Eastern Europe carries one of the mutations in the BRCA gene that causes higher risks of breast and ovarian cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.

That rate is 10 times higher than the general population and a prominent reason why genetic counselor Chani Wiesman says affordable testing should be offered.