1.   Some people carry a gene that puts them at greater risk of certain cancers.

2.   Some women carry a gene which makes them more likely to develop breast cancer.

3.   This inevitably results in unnecessary inconvenience and distress for those not carrying the gene, not to mention the expense of regular colonoscopies.

4.   On learning that the child carried his genes, might he take her to court and attempt to gain custody?

5.   When her daughter has children, they will also carry the gene and develop the illness.

6.   Already, Janet Larson from the Ochsner Medical Foundation in New Orleans and her colleagues have used gene therapy on unborn mice carrying the genes for cystic fibrosis.

7.   And in genetic medicine experiments, harmless viruses are used to carry desirable genes into cells.

8.   A dog that had the correct spot pattern would probably be retained even though it carried the genes for deafness.