Your DNA is a valuable asset, so why give it to ancestry websites for free? ;
"The announcement by 23andMe, a company that sells home DNA testing kits, that it has sold the rights
to a promising new anti-inflammatory drug to a Spanish pharmaceutical
company is cause for celebration. The collected health data of 23andMe’s
millions of customers have potentially produced a medical advance – the
first of its kind. But a few weeks later the same company announced
that it was laying off workers amid a shrinking market that its CEO put down to the public’s concerns about privacy.
These two developments are linked, because the most intimate data we
can provide about ourselves – our genetic make-up – is already being
harvested for ends we aren’t aware of and can’t always control. Some of
them, such as better medicines, are desirable, but some of them should
worry us...
These are the privacy concerns that may be behind layoffs, not only at 23andMe, but also at other DTC companies,
and that we need to resolve urgently to avoid the pitfalls of genetic
testingwhile [sic] realising its undoubted promise. In the meantime, we should
all start reading the small print."
Issues and developments related to ethics, information, and technologies, examined in the ethics and intellectual property graduate courses I teach at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. My Bloomsbury book "Ethics, Information, and Technology" will be published in Summer 2025. Kip Currier, PhD, JD
Showing posts with label DNA testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DNA testing. Show all posts
Friday, February 21, 2020
Your DNA is a valuable asset, so why give it to ancestry websites for free?; The Guardian, February 16, 2020
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Consumer DNA Testing May Be the Biggest Health Scam of the Decade; Gizmodo, November 20, 2019
Ed Cara, Gizmodo; Consumer DNA Testing May Be the Biggest Health Scam of the Decade
"This test, as well as many of those
offered by the hundreds of big and small DNA testing companies on the
market, illustrates the uncertainty of personalized consumer genetics.
The
bet that companies like 23andMe are making is that they can untangle
this mess and translate their results back to people in a way that won’t
cross the line into deceptive marketing while still convincing their
customers they truly matter. Other companies have teamed up
with outside labs and doctors to look over customers’ genes and have
hired genetic counselors to go over their results, which might place
them on safer legal and medical ground. But it still raises the question
of whether people will benefit from the information they get. And
because our knowledge of the relationship between genes and health is constantly changing, it’s very much possible the DNA test you take in 2020 will tell you a totally different story by 2030."
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Would You Want To Know The Secrets Hidden In Your Baby's Genes?; NPR, 10/31/16
[Podcast] Mary Harris, NPR; Would You Want To Know The Secrets Hidden In Your Baby's Genes? :
"Lauren and Ian Patrick, the parents of baby Finn, are a good case study. Initially, they were convinced they wanted the screening. But after an hour talking to a genetic counselor about all the ways this sequencing could go wrong, they decided against it. They learned that any genetic sequencing would go in their son's medical record, and it wouldn't be able to be removed. And while federal law prohibits genetic discrimination by health care providers and in the workplace, life insurers can still use genetic information to pick and choose whom they'll sell policies to. By the time the meeting was over, the Patricks' excitement had been replaced with concern."
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