Ok, maybe I am just hearing black helicopters and letting conspiracies run wild in my head. I was watching TV this morning and one of those commercials came on talking about how they can test your DNA and let you know your heritage. My question is this...are these companies not building a massive data base of people's DNA that could end up being used for who knows what. Should we not protect our information on a genetic level too with where technology is and going? Just a thought.
OT...DNA Testing
- Thread starter smashmouth5
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That's something I have thought about from time to time. I teach genetics and have looked into how these companies process the information. They are only recording single nucleotide info for a few hundred sites in your genome, not the entire sequence. Still though, those sites serve as great indicators of risk for some important diseases. The only value I can see on the open market would be to sell to health insurance companies. This is illegal, and there are clear routes in place to prosecute violators (which makes this kind of info sharing way worse than what Facebook is doing).
We are marching towards a reality where it becomes standard practice to have every newborn in the US get their genome completely sequenced and added to a permanent health file. There are thumb drive-sized DNA sequencers now in use that do a decent job for less than 1000 bucks. Protection of these files will be a huge deal.
We are marching towards a reality where it becomes standard practice to have every newborn in the US get their genome completely sequenced and added to a permanent health file. There are thumb drive-sized DNA sequencers now in use that do a decent job for less than 1000 bucks. Protection of these files will be a huge deal.
I did Ancestry. It was cool to find out what town in Germany my ancestors likely came from. I was a little concerned about how it could be used later on (selling my info), but like DukeDenver said there are laws on the books to protect us. That won’t stop a hacker but if you are that worried about hackers stealing your info you need to throw away all your phones, computers, tablets, always pay in cash and never stay at a hotel.
I work in genetics - if data is to be shared/sold, it is to be anonymized and/or de-identified. Companies like 23andMe and Color Genomics don't make much, if at all, net profit so the long play includes things like selling the data to the highest bidder, or collaborating with pharma for targeted treatments (among other things).
I have read bad things about the info they collect. Just sayin' but its the only thing keeping me from doing it. On a side note, my father in law found his long lost brother on there and didn't even know he existed until he got notified. Crazy stuff.