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23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

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Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#261

Post by heavyset_go »

drcode wrote: post #249
heavyset_go wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Well, I don't think I have any pre-existing conditions and certainly don't do drugs, but I don't know about any unknowns on the health side that could impact my insurance if they were to share it to the company. Forget that. In the US, only health insurance companies are not allowed to use genetic data to increase premiums or deny coverage, at least for now. I'm not sure what the rules are about using data derived…

The problem is that... people/companies sometimes do things even if they are illegal.

I agree, this is definitely something to worry about. The reason I brought it up wasn't to dismiss such worries, but to highlight the fact that even if someone isn't worried about the health insurance aspect today, they definitely should worry about how the collection of their genetic data could impact their ability to purchase other types of insurance.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#262

Post by thaumasiotes »

munk-a wrote: post #227
scarmig wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

A parent/child relationship is crystal clear in the genetic data (barring the case where what you're actually seeing is an aunt or uncle and the child of their identical twin).

And I'm pretty sure paternity tests have a lot of precedent in US courts.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#263

Post by michaelmior »

nradov wrote: post #200
michaelmior wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true but unrelated to their current decline in sales since this isn't an option they currently offer.

It is an option they currently offer. https://you.23andme.com/chip-upgrade/

I stand corrected. (That link doesn't work for me, but the one below does.) I guess I'm a recent enough customer that there's no need for me to upgrade.

https://customercare.23andme.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025014...

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#264

Post by asveikau »

fiftyfifty wrote: post #83
ilamont wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ancestry.com has also stepped up its marketing game. Used to be a follower with DNA, now a leader, and discounting heavily. And, unlike 23andMe which got rid of family tree tools used by genealogists, Ancestry still has a very strong suite of trees and traditional genealogy tools. Some people really want to have both genetic and traditional genealogy accounts under the same provider, and are either unaware or don't r…

One thing I would add is the data for places outside of Europe looks pretty weak for both Ancestry.com and 23AndMe, at least it was the last time I looked. If you are from European descent they can practically tell you what village your ancestors are from (how accurate that is I don't know) but if you are Asian about the best you get is yep, you're Asian! I married into an Asian family and the reports I've seen from…

> If you are from European descent they can practically tell you what village your ancestors are from (how accurate that is I don't know)

Can confirm it was accurate for me based on my own impression of family history, I found it pretty impressive.

My ancestry is from Lithuania and two different parts of Italy.

Lithuania is a small country but they identified my grandparents' county correctly.

In Italy, 2 of the regions that I know I have roots from are in spots #1 and #3. The third one is #8.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#265

Post by phkahler »

jellicle wrote: post #248
jedberg wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>> date of birth, and sex

That's enough to identify people in some zipcodes.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#266

Post by ci5er »

johntiger1 wrote: post #193
evv555 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I definitely would not submit my kids to the same fate. You already have since your DNA is out there in a database.

That's not exactly how DNA works. Their kids should be mostly fine (99.99% similar is still night and day)

Well, yeah, in the sense that a chimp and a human are about 98.5% similar.

But from that point of view, humans are 99.9999% similar.

The other point-of-view is that a male and a female of a species will end up with approximately 50/50 similarity to either parent.

These are different measures coming from different point-of-views. If I were Gengis Khan (and who is to say that I was not!), then I could have impregnated enough women over my days on the steppes, to have, 1000 years late, up to countable percentages of my far-far-far descendents actually detected in tests as being my actual descendents.

Please don't conflate "this dna comparative measure" with "that dna comparative measure". It's all (theoretically) straight forward, and, yes, compounded by empiricism, but these are different measures, regardless.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#267

Post by zelly »

blackswan101 wrote: post #156

Lots of layoffs happening recently: 23andme, stubhub, tripadvisor etc. Early indicators of a tech bubble?

Since it's happening without the greater economy collapsing, it's actually bullish. The market cleans house sometimes and comes out stronger.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#268

Post by ci5er »

0xffff2 wrote: post #159
ab_testing wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I would be shocked if IAFIS didn't have that stored in South Carolina strip-mall hosted database like all the other biometrics they can get from birth, disease, criminal activity, police, federal and military service. The feds do love their biometric data.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#269

Post by celticmusic »

cubano wrote: post #245
JohnFen wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The group that you have some sort of actual say in how they operate. That usually means the government, not a private business.

I would say that statistically, over a large sample size, that the chances that either would abuse information is exactly equal.

I don't know that I'd say it's exactly equal, but the idea that any typical individual really has much say over the Federal Governments decisions is laughable.

Even if it were your local town, city, or county government managing it, do you think they're going to fight the federal government if they ask for access to it? Over you, a nobody, when the Federal Government is going to threaten to withhold money for whatever if they don't?

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#270

Post by ExactActuation »

jsgo wrote: post #79

> Wojcicki has theories Think the obvious one is that the results are shared and whether someone is a criminal or not (or will be one in the future), people are not particularly comfortable with sharing to parties they didn't initially trust it to for the purposes they trusted it for. Anecdotally, I bought a 23andme kit (just the genealogy one) but never submitted it because the labeling was to send it to the lab in…

> and certainly don't do drugs

What about alcohol or caffeine?

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