23andMe

For Worst Threat to Genetic Privacy

For marketing its genetic testing service as a guide to personal health and a cool social networking tool while, in reality, it is a way to persuade customers to pay to hand over DNA samples and personal medical information – which the company plans to sell to medical researchers. In its fine-print legal disclaimers, 23andMe states: “Your saliva, once submitted to and analyzed by us, becomes our property.” 23andMe is just one of dozens of direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies asking us to believe that our genes define who we are and hold the key to our wellbeing.