health improvement programs (at best). Media coverage of this century’s new findings of gene-environment interaction (and environmental effects on gene expression) is persuading the public to embrace a more realistic, nuanced understanding of the causes of behavior, in which some genes’ effects depend on lifestyle choices that are often under human control. That understanding will be the best defense against misuse of genetic information. Interdependence between life stress and the 5-HTTLPR leads this shift in understanding, because stress and depression touch almost everyone.
