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23andMe UK

23andme.com

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Re: 23andMe UK

#41

Post by bjackman »

iamben wrote: post #13
Luc wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one stops you from entering a fake name. At least they didn't when I ordered some kits a couple of years ago.

I suppose I'd be more interested if you could buy the kit from a supermarket, and each kit had a unique code and password you could enter online to check for your results. So once the sample is posted, the only thing that connects it to me (without a probably unfeasible amount of detective work) would be my IP address. (And my DNA, obviously...)

Hmm... that would come off as pretty suspicious; it would make it very easy to get away with DNA testing other people against their will.

Re: 23andMe UK

#42

Post by mwg66 »

icehawk219 wrote: post #5

I've had one of these 23andMe kits sitting at home for a while now. I find the information they can give you very interesting and I'm curious to do it. But part of me can't overcome the fear of this data sitting around on a companies servers forever. With me having no way of knowing what they're doing with it. Maybe I'm just too paranoid.

You can opt-out of the long-term storage.

Re: 23andMe UK

#43

Post by mwg66 »

I am in the UK and had previously purchased from the US. This morning I got an e-mail offering me health reports (based on my previous test results). Very nice.

Re: 23andMe UK

#44

Post by jebus989 »

mindcruzer wrote: post #33
shaurz wrote: post #32

I really would like to get my DNA anaylsed out of pure curiosity, but I'm also afraid I might discover something I would have been better not knowing.

Such as?

Such as a 20x heightened risk of developing Alzheimer's relative to baseline (as determined by your ApoE variant).

Re: 23andMe UK

#45

Post by Ntrails »

talkingquickly wrote: post #22
iamben wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just from (UK) insurer Aviva's health insurance policy: "We don’t cover treatment of pre-existing conditions or related conditions if you had symptoms of, medication for, treatment for or advice about that condition in the five years before your joining date." It wouldn't take much for companies to start requiring that you disclose the knowledge you're at (high?) risk of something and adjusting their prices according…

Often (in the UK at least) if your insurance is provided as a benefit through a company rather than buying your policy directly, pre existing conditions will be covered even though the provider would normally exclude them if purchased by an individual.

Typically this is because they are able to make decent generalisations about the total risk pool they are insuring.

Offering 100 policies at £100 makes sense if you can make a decent estimate of the average annual payout being £90. The fact that one guy walks in to the policy knowing he'll cost £500 doesn't concern you.

Offering 1 policy at £100 without any exclusions means that you get adverse selection - a unusually high proportion of your clients would walk in knowing that they'll cost the £500.

In many countries where health insurance is obligatory, regulators have risk pooling between insurers to help negate selection effects (I think this was included in ObamaCare provision but not sure)

Re: 23andMe UK

#46

Post by Ntrails »

nly wrote: post #29

A cautionary tale... I bought an Ancestry(.com) DNA test a number of years ago. The product had the advantage that it was integrated in to their genealogical research platform (a subscription service). When you found a match in the database you could click straight through to that members family tree .... then they shut down the "old" platform entirely, gave me X days to download my data, and told me to get lost. Vis…

I know this is a little off topic, but did you really spent $160 a year to find strangers with whom you share lineage?

What was the draw?

Re: 23andMe UK

#47

Post by georgyo »

bjackman wrote: post #41
iamben wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose I'd be more interested if you could buy the kit from a supermarket, and each kit had a unique code and password you could enter online to check for your results. So once the sample is posted, the only thing that connects it to me (without a probably unfeasible amount of detective work) would be my IP address. (And my DNA, obviously...)

Hmm... that would come off as pretty suspicious; it would make it very easy to get away with DNA testing other people against their will.

The 23andme kit requires a substantial amount of spit, so it would be hard to trick someone into giving you their DNA.

In terms of doing DNA testing behind someone's back, paternity testing is DNA testing, and only requires a sample of the DNA. You can buy those kits at walmart already. Search for Identigene DNA Paternity Test Kit.

Re: 23andMe UK

#48

Post by kybernetyk »

mwg66 wrote: post #42
icehawk219 wrote: post #5

I've had one of these 23andMe kits sitting at home for a while now. I find the information they can give you very interesting and I'm curious to do it. But part of me can't overcome the fear of this data sitting around on a companies servers forever. With me having no way of knowing what they're doing with it. Maybe I'm just too paranoid.

You can opt-out of the long-term storage.

Just as you can delete emails in Gmail or delete your Facebook account ...

Re: 23andMe UK

#50

Post by kybernetyk »

Sadly not an alternative if you weren't too comfortable with your genetic data being stored in the US. From the .uk privacy policy:

>By agreeing to our Privacy Statement and Terms of Service, you consent to the storing and processing of your personal information, including sensitive information, in the USA and countries outside of the country you live in.

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