The Wall Street Journal reports on how Procter & Gamble has made use of genomic advances with "new ways to develop dandruff shampoo, skin cream and toothpaste," the story says. The work began a decade ago and today, "those efforts are starting to hit store shelves." Exhibit A: Olay Pro-X, a skin cream that P&G scientists say is based on gene expression studies to determine the differences between old and young skin, and how to make the former appear like the latter. According to the article, L'Oreal and Estee Lauder also say they're using protein or gene expression technologies to enhance their products.
The story also quotes Alan Guttmacher, NHGRI's acting director, as saying, "Overall, it seems that the marketing tends to be ahead of the science. ... Right now the genomic frontier is much like a wonder world of snake oil."