251–260 of 458 posts
I would probably still be interested if there were a company that promised never to share ANYTHING with anybody and to destroy every trace of my info and sample within 90 days. But that company isn't 23andme, for sure.
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> If the government encounters one of their kid's DNA, that's enough to identify them as a son/daughter of the person with that DNA profile. I don't believe that's ever been tested in court (so there isn't precedence) and the ways in which DNA are complex enough - and the mutation rate is high enough - that it might be like fingerprints... if you're the only person with DNA that might be like the kind found and you'v…
Joseph DeAngelo was caught because one of his relatives did a 23andMe style test.
The results are mainly bupkis anyway, and you're paying for the privilege of having police agencies across the country (world?) give extra scrutiny to you and all of your relations. No thanks.
[0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2018/04/27...
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If your kids were born in the United States,the states already has their genetic information. https://www.babysfirsttest.org/newborn-screening/states
The US Government already has my DNA thanks to my military service. I very much hope that they aren't sharing it with private companies though. Despite the government having my DNA I would still never give it to 23 and me.
You can also request it be destroyed:
https://www.health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Research-and-I...
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If the government encounters one of their kid's DNA, that's enough to identify them as a son/daughter of the person with that DNA profile. If a medical insurance company purchases their DNA, analyzes it, and anticipates that a child of theirs is likely to have medical costs 5x the average, those costs will be passed on to those kids, absent legislation to the contrary. This applies to everyone you're related to, as w…
> If the government encounters one of their kid's DNA, that's enough to identify them as a son/daughter of the person with that DNA profile. I don't believe that's ever been tested in court (so there isn't precedence) and the ways in which DNA are complex enough - and the mutation rate is high enough - that it might be like fingerprints... if you're the only person with DNA that might be like the kind found and you'v…
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The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) specifically prohibits health insurance companies from denying coverage or setting rates based on such tests.
You are correct but a major challenge of our time today and the near future is to see whether the rule of law still works against political or financial power. From the 2008 financial crisis onward, there is a growing public sense that the powerful cannot be held subject to justice any more. I have to say that I personally would never purchase a DNA testing kit for this reason. On the social and political trajectory…
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> Maybe the industry as a whole should stop handing stuff over to law enforcement and governments. They can try saying "No", then the government will just get a court order to force them to do it. They don't really have a choice in the end – the only choice they have is whether they make it easy for the government ("you want our data? here have it!") or slightly harder ("I'll need to see a warrant first..." "No probl…
Companies could stop retaining data that governments would be interested in. I'd love to get my genome sequenced, but I never want that data to be retained by anyone but me.
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I seem to remember reading that even when they delete your data, they keep your sample. So really all it does is prevent you from getting it.
After account closure: "23andMe and our third party genotyping laboratory will retain your genetic information, date of birth, and sex as required for compliance with applicable legal obligations, including the U.S. Federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), California Business and Professional Code Section 1265, and College of American Pathologists (CAP) accreditation requirements. 23andMe wi…
Very curious that this came just a couple weeks after they announced licensing their first drug compound (using data from the test kits?) to the Spanish firm Almirall [0,1]. Anybody have any ideas about this? Why would they slow down the "growth and scaling efforts" (as the cnbc article claims) even despite lower-than expected sales, when the data from kits is what gives them the unique(?) capability to discover nove…
Subsidizing the tests or doing more marketing would sell more tests, but wouldn't speed up drug development. And doing so would burn up money that could be used for drug development.
And even though the licensing deal is promising, there has been no drug brought to market yet based on 23andMe's data. So it's a hard sell to investors.
A recent one had a requirement that was a DNA test "to learn about your heritage." There was an opt out, which I took for privacy reasons. I'm amazed people are just starting to realize the implications of giving away your DNA to be collected in a central database.
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> If the government encounters one of their kid's DNA, that's enough to identify them as a son/daughter of the person with that DNA profile. I don't believe that's ever been tested in court (so there isn't precedence) and the ways in which DNA are complex enough - and the mutation rate is high enough - that it might be like fingerprints... if you're the only person with DNA that might be like the kind found and you'v…
Court..? AFAIK insurance companies in the US are free to model and quote you as they wish with the information they can legally get
> ... health insurers may not use genetic information to make eligibility, coverage, underwriting or premium-setting decisions.
However, it doesn't apply to all insurance:
> It does not cover long-term care insurance, life insurance, or disability insurance.
[1] https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/policy-issues/Genetic-...